Hockey

Alaskans make their mark with USA Hockey

Hannah Hogenson isn’t the only Alaskan going places with USA Hockey.

Zoe Hickel and Clair DeGeorge of Anchorage spent the week at the annual USA Hockey women’s winter training camp in Michigan, and Isaiah Saville of Anchorage just returned from Canada with a gold medal from the World Junior A Challenge.

Hickel and DeGeorge, both forwards, are among 45 players at the women’s training camp, which wraps up Friday in Plymouth, Michigan.

The camp is a precursor to the women’s world championships next April in Finland. The U.S. roster for that tournament will be announced in February, and most if not all of the players who will make that team are participating in the camp.

[Anchorage goaltender Hogenson heads to Japan with USA Hockey team]

Hickel, 26, played for gold-medal winning teams at the 2015 and 2016 World Championships. A professional player since 2015, she’s in her first season with the Calgary Inferno of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League.

Hickel was recently selected to play in January’s CWHL All-Star game in Toronto. She ranks fourth on her team and 11th in the league in scoring with four goals and 11 assists in 15 games.

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DeGeorge, 19, is a freshman at Bemidji State, where she is her team’s second leading scorer with four goals and five assists in 19 games.

She was a member of the gold-medal winning U.S. team at the 2017 Under-18 Women’s World Championships — the same tournament Hogenson, a junior at South High, is headed to next month.

Saville, 18, is a goaltender who just backstopped the United States to a gold-medal victory over Russia at the World Junior A Challenge in Bonnyville, Alberta. He recorded 25 saves and was named the U.S. player of the game in the 2-0 championship win over Russia.

Saville, who as a freshman led West High to the 2016 state high school hockey title, is the top goaltender in the U.S. Hockey League and will play college hockey next season at Nebraska-Omaha.

The top goalie for the Tri-City Storm of the USHL, Saville owns a league-leading 1.56 goals-against-average, a .937 save percentage and an 11-2-1 record in net.

Beth Bragg

Beth Bragg wrote about sports and other topics for the ADN for more than 35 years, much of it as sports editor. She retired in October 2021. She's contributing coverage of Alaskans involved in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

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