A 14 Year Old Female Hockey Player From Slovakia Took Over The Hockey World This Week
Her name is Nela Lopusanova and her performance at the Women's Under 18 World Championships almost broke the internet. Connor Bedard and Connor Mcdavid are doing ridiculous things on the ice right now, but this girl/woman I don't even know what I'm supposed to call her because she is only 14 years old, took over hockey Twitter.
Pulling off the first-ever female "Michigan" at the IIHF level against Sweden put her on the radar.
What most people don't know is that the highlight reel goals started in Slovakia's first game vs. Japan when she scored 2 goals including this one, which would have most pros tripping over their own feet if they tried it. What a celebration to go with it!
Nela followed that up with a Hat Trick against Switzerland in their second game. 5 goals in 2 games is that good?
Slovakia was eliminated from the medal round but that did not stop Nela from pulling off a couple more highlight reel goals during the 5th vs. 6th place game. Check out this move to create the scoring chance, before she knocks her own rebound out of the air and into the net.
The Slovakian teenager finished her tournament off with the between the legs breakaway move that I'd say half the NHL could not pull off at full speed.
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She finished up with 9 goals 4 assists and 13 points in 5 games, the previous record for a U-15 player was 3 points. To put this performance in perspective, Marie-Philip Poulin and Kendall Coyne Schofield two of the greatest female players of all time had 12 points in the tournament at age 17!
Just when I thought there was nothing more to uncover about this amazing hockey player, I found her stats from the U16 league in Slovakia where she's scoring at a better rate than last year's #1 pick in the NHL Draft.
Could she become the first female position player to play in the NHL?
Time will tell but, congrats to Nela and all the other women on an amazing tournament. I know like all hockey fans I can't wait for the Women's World Championships in April!!
Twitter: mattmurley19
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