Current University of Minnesota Duluth assistant women’s hockey coach Caroline Ouellette is a gold medalist once again, this time coming in the form of a 5-1 victory over the United States at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Women’s Championship in Winnipeg, Canada on April 10. Ouellette, a former two-time Bulldog All-American, won a gold medal with Canada at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Not only is Ouellette returning to UMD with the gold, but a handful of current and former Bulldog players also participated in the IIHF tournament, with a number of them earning medals.

Five players from the 2006-07 Bulldogs participated in this year’s tournament while five past players also skated for their respective countries. Among the current Bulldogs were reshman forward Elin Holmlov (Sweden), freshman goaltender Kim Martin(Sweden), freshman defenseman Heidi Pelttari (Finland), freshman forward Saara Tuominen (Finland), and sophomore forward Michaela Lanzl (Germany).

In addition, former Bulldogs Erika Holst and Maria Rooth skated for Sweden while Nora Tallus played for Finland and Jenny Potter suited up for the United States.

Ouellette’s team Canada squad defeated team USA and former Bulldog teammate Jenny Potter in the gold medal game. Sweden skated past Finland 1-0 in the bronze medal game of the tournament. Current Bulldog players Holmlov and Martin and former players, Rooth and Holst earned the bronze medal in the win. Pelttari, Tuominen and former Bulldog, Nora Tallus, played in Finland’s 1-0 loss to Sweden.

Rooth scored the only goal in Sweden’s 1-0 win over Finland while Martin made 25 saves in goal in the bronze medal game. Ouellette earned two assists in Canada’s 5-1 gold medal win over the U.S.

Rooth finished No. 6 on the scoring leaders chart for the tournament, with four goals and two assists for six points in five games. Holst, one of Rooth's Swedish teammates, scored one goal and four assists for five points. Ouellette finished the tournament with one goal and three assists for four points for Canada. Martin finished with a 1.03 goals against average, stopping 68 of 71 shots on goal.

The 2007 IIHF World Women’s Championship began on April 2 with the gold medal game between the United States and Canada decided on April 10.