Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

Hockey player Caitlin Cahow, equestrian rider Steffen Peters and the U.S. Women’s National Hockey Team were named Thursday as winner of the Athletes and Team of the Month for April, as determined by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Cahow, from Branford, Conn., split time at forward and defense while helping Team USA to its second straight title in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships. She anchored the U.S. power-play and penalty-kill units, netting two goals and four assists over five games. Included were two goals in the 4-1 gold-medal game victory over Canada, as Team USA finished 4-0-1. Cahow, 23, was on the bronze-medal U.S. Olympic team in 2006.

Equestrian Steffen Peters aboard Ravel. Photo by Shannon Brinkman.

Peters, the Male Athlete of the Month, became the first U.S. rider to win both legs of the Rolex/FEI World Cup Dressage Final. The San Diego rider, aboard Ravel, put up the best score of his career to defeat two of the three medalists who finished ahead of him at last summer’s Beijing Olympics.

Results

Women

1. Caitlin Cahow, Ice Hockey

2. Anna Tunnicliffe, Sailing (Gold medal in Laser Radial at Hyeres, France, site of the French Olympic Sailing Week from April 18-24 and the fourth event on the ISAF Sailing World Cup calendar.)

3. Clarissa Chun, Wrestling (Won her second national championship with a victory in the 49 kg/105.5 lbs. division at the U.S. Women’s National Championships in Las Vegas on April 9; named the Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament and did not allow a point in four matches. Two weeks later, Chun won a gold medal at the Pan American Championships.)

Men

1. Steffen Peters, Equestrian

2. Jack Campbell, Ice Hockey (All-tournament tam goalie for the U.S. Men’s Under-18 National Team that won the World Championships, shutting out Russia in the gold-medal game. Finished with a 4-0 record, a 0.75 goals-against average and a .967 save percentage with two shutouts.)

3. Keith Sanderson, Shooting (Gold-medal iwinner n the 25-meter Rapid Fire Pistol event at the International Shooting Sport Federation Rifle/Pistol World Cup in Beijing on April 22. A week earlier, won the silver medal in the Men’s Rapid Fire at the ISSF World Cup in Changwon, Korea.)

Team

1. U.S. Women’s National Team, Ice Hockey

2. ISU World Team Trophy Team, Figure Skating (Struck gold inthe inaugural event at Tokyo, scoring 60 points to edge Canada (54) and Japan (50). Team USA: Evan Lysacek (men’s winner), Jeremy Abbott (men, fifth), Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto (ice dance winners), Caroline Zhang (ladies, third), Rachael Flatt (ladies, fourth) and Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett (pairs, fourth).)

3. U.S. Fed Cup Team, Tennis (Squad of Melanie Oudin, Alexa Glatch, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Liezel Huber advanced to the Fed Cup Finals for the first time since 2003 by defeating host Czech Republic, 3-2, in the semifinals April 25-26. The U.S. will play Italy in the Fed Cup Final in November.