The Buffalo Beauts have added a third goaltender to their 2019-20 NWHL roster. Word was released that Tzu-Ting (Tiffany) Hsu has been officially signed by the team as of Oct. 15.
“I came from a place with very limited hockey resources, so the fact that I worked so hard to get myself to where I am and actually making it to the NWHL and this great team in Buffalo is an incredible feeling,” said Hsu in the press release about her signing. “Joining the NWHL and the Beauts means a whole lot to me. It’s a dream come true.”
Hsu plays internationally for Chinese Taipei, and has competed in multiple IIHF Women’s World Championships for her country. Hsu’s signing makes her the 100th player to sign an NWHL contract for the 2019-20 season.
Club Team Experience for Carolina and Rochester
Hsu has a considerable amount of club team experience, both with the Rochester Edge and the Carolina Lady Hurricanes. The 24-year-old netminder has competed in each of the last three USA Hockey Nationals Senior Women B tournaments.
Some of Hsu’s teammates between the two club teams have included current and former NWHL players such as Colleen Murphy, Kourtney Kunichika and Courtney Carnes. Perhaps more interesting to note is that one of Hsu’s current Beauts goalie partners – Kelsey Neumann – has been a longstanding teammate of hers with the Lady Hurricanes.
“Playing for those two teams keeps me active and playing at a competitive level,” Hsu explained to THW. “I was thinking about giving up when I first got cut from varsity. Without those two teams and the support from my teammates, I probably wouldn’t be playing much at all.”
International Scene and Beauts Play
Hsu has been a member of the Chinese Taipei Women’s National Team since its inception in 2014. She has competed at one Women’s Worlds Division II qualification tournament, and two Division II-B World Championships as well.
Chinese Taipei would take gold in the 2017 qualifier. Much of that success stemmed from Hsu allowing all of two goals between her pair of appearances. She put forth a 1.00 goals against average and a .963 save percentage, while narrowly missing out on Best Goaltender honors. More importantly however, Hsu and Chinese Taipei earned promotion into the Division II-B competition for 2018.
Chinese Taipei would take home silver from 2018’s tournament in Valdemoro, Spain. Hsu’s performance was bested only by Spain’s Alba Gonzalo. Playing in all five tournament games for Chinese Taipei, she earned a 2.98 GAA and a .907 SV%.
Hsu’s finest performance in IIHF competition is easily 2019’s tourney which was held in BraČ™ov, Romania. Behind her staggering 0.72 GAA and .977 SV% in three games, Chinese Taipei took home gold – their first ever at a Women’s World Championship. For her efforts, Hsu was named Best Goaltender and Most Valuable Player for her team. Her goaltending numbers were the best among all netminders at the tournament.
A 2018 CWHL Draft selection by the Worcester (Boston) Blades, Now Hsu will bring her club and international experience to Buffalo. In addition to being the Beauts’ third goalie to earn a contract, she is also the team’s 22nd player signing overall for 2019-20.
The team began the regular season having just Neumann and Mariah Fujimagari covering the net duties, but it is not as if Hsu came out of nowhere. She attended the Beauts Free Agent Camp back in late-July. Hsu also participated in the team’s training camp and has been at most practices as well too. With a fuller NWHL season, having a third goalie makes a great deal of sense for the Beauts. Potential injuries, illness, and off-ice commitments make the signing of Hsu more of a necessity.
As of Oct. 15, here is how the Beauts’ roster currently looks:
Goaltender: Mariah Fujimagari, Kelsey Neumann, Tiffany Hsu.
Defender: Meg Delay, Marie-Jo Pelletier, Ashley Birdsall (forward-defender) Lenka Čurmová, Ana Orzechowski, Richelle Skarbowski, Nikki Kirchberger (forward-defender).
Forward: Corinne Buie, Brooke Stacey, Kim Brown, Becki Bowering, Cassidy MacPherson, Iveta Klimášová, Emma Ruggiero, Maddie Norton, Kandice Sheriff, Taylor Accursi, Sara Bustad (forward-defender), Erin Gehen.
Beginning May 15, NWHL teams can re-sign players from their 2018-19 roster and their draft picks. Additionally, for those players who have completed their college eligibility and want to continue their hockey careers, NWHL Free Agency provides the best opportunity to continue playing at the highest level of professional women’s hockey. The fifth season of the NWHL will begin in October as the Minnesota Whitecaps look to defend their Isobel Cup championship.
My colleague Dan Rice will keep THW readers up-to-date on Metropolitan and Connecticut’s signings throughout the summer, while I post updates on Buffalo and Boston. Together we will be keeping readers informed of all of Minnesota’s signings.
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