Nela Lopusanova MVP
by Risto Pakarinen|15 JAN 2023
Slovak forward Nela Lopusanova after at a player-of-the-game award ceremony.
photo: Chris Tanouye / IIHF
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Slovakia’s 14-year-old phenom Nela Lopusanova, who led the tournament in scoring with nine goals and twelve points, has been named the IIHF U18 Women's World Championship’s Most Valuable Player. In addition to her points production, she wowed the hockey world by scoring a lacrosse-style goal, the first time a female player had scored one in an IIHF tournament. 
 
Lopusanova was also named to the tournament All-Star Team as voted by the members of the media present at the tournament. She’s joined by Canada’s Caitlin Kraemer, who led the tournament in goal scoring with ten goals in five games. The third forward on the All-Star Team is Finland’s Pauliina Salonen who as behind on all six goals Finland scored in the tournament. 
 
Defenders are Sweden’s Mira Jungaker who scored five points in six games, and Team USA’s Molly Jordan who led the tournament in ice time, averaging more than 27 minutes a game. 
 
The All-Star goaltender is Sweden’s Felicia Frank. 
 
The tournament’s directorate also named their best players in each position.  Best Goaltender was Frank, Best Defender Jungaker and Best Forward Lopusanova.
 
Tournament MVP
Nela Lopusanova, Slovakia
 
Media All-Star Team
Goalkeeper: Felicia Frank, Sweden
Defender: Mira Jungaker, Sweden
Defender: Molly Jordan, USA
Forward: Caitlin Kraemer, Canada
Forward: Pauliina Salonen, Finland
Forward: Nela Lopusanova, Slovakia
 
Directorate Awards
Best Goalkeeper: Felicia Frank, Sweden
Best Defender: Mira Jungaker, Sweden
Best Forward: Nela Lopusanova, Slovakia