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Minnesota Duluth senior goaltender Maddie Rooney makes a diving save in the second overtime against Bemidji State on Feb. 29, 2020, at Amsoil Arena in Duluth. (Clint Austin / File / caustin@duluthnews.com)
Minnesota Duluth alumna and Olympic gold medalist Maddie Rooney is out for the upcoming IIHF Women’s World Championship in Calgary and has been replaced on the United States roster by former Northeastern goaltender Aerin Frankel, USA Hockey confirmed Friday.
ESPN’s Emily Kaplan first reported Rooney was out of the tournament on Thursday. According to Kaplan, Rooney suffered a lower body injury that will keep her out for 4-6 weeks. Teams are already in Calgary quarantining prior to the tournament. Play gets underway on Friday, Aug. 20, with the U.S. opening against Switzerland.
Maddie Rooney will miss IIHF Women’s World Championships after suffering a lower body injury in training camp.
She’s out 4-6 weeks. Alex Cavallini & Nicole Hensley are the other goalies on Team USA’s roster. Tourney begins Aug 20 in Calgary.
Quote from @maddie_rooney35 below pic.twitter.com/QoRQsoIS5p
— Emily Kaplan (@emilymkaplan) August 12, 2021
The Women’s World Championship was originally scheduled to take place in May in Nova Scotia, but was rescheduled after the province went into lockdown due to a surge of COVID-19 cases in Eastern Canada. The event was rescheduled for Aug. 20-31 at the Canada Olympic Park in Calgary. Team USA has won the last four editions of the biennial tournament, with Rooney on the roster for victories in 2017 and 2019.
Rooney is one of 27 players who has been invited to the USA Hockey Women’s National Team Residency Program to begin in October in Blaine, Minn., ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China.
Rooney graduated from UMD in 2020 as the program’s all-time career leader in saves with 3,449. The Andover, Minn., native has also played more career games than any other UMD goalie (122) and minutes (7,277:49). Her 59 career wins are third most in team history.
Frankel joins goaltenders Alex Cavallini and Nicole Hensley on the U..S roster. Frankel, not Rooney, was on the original roster that was announced in March for the Women’s World Championship. Frankel attended the USA Hockey Women’s National Festival in Blaine earlier this month.
Six current and former Bulldogs are still set to take part in this year’s tournament, including Ashton Bell and Jocelyne Larocque (Canada), Nina Jobst-Smith and Jenny Harss (Germany), Lara Stalder (Switzerland) and Katerina Mrazova (Czech Republic).
This story was updated at 11:25 a.m., Aug. 13, 2021, with confirmation from USA Hockey that Rooney is out and that Aerin Frankel was added to the roster. It was originally posted at 12:04 a.m., Aug. 13, 2021.
