August 15, 2010
NR.099

CANADA’S NATIONAL WOMEN’S UNDER-22 TEAM ROSTER
NAMED FOR THREE-GAME SERIES VERSUS UNITED STATES; ASSISTANT COACHES ADDED TO STAFF

TORONTO, Ont. – Hockey Canada announced Sunday the 22 players that will represent their country on Canada’s National Women’s Under-22 Team in a three-game series against the United States’ Women’s Under-22 Select Team next week in Toronto.

The 13 forwards, seven defencemen and two goaltenders on the roster were chosen during the National Women’s Under-22 Team selection camp, which ran in conjunction with the National Women’s Under-18 Team selection camp, from August 7-15 in Toronto.

Head coach Jim Fetter (Waterloo, Ont.) assembled the team with help from Melody Davidson, Hockey Canada’s head scout of women’s national team programs and Davidson’s team of Hockey Canada scouts, along with newly-named assistant coaches Rachel Flanagan (Guelph, Ont.) and Dave Gwyn (Etobicoke, Ont.), and goaltending coach Perry Wilson (Windsor, Ont.).

“The roster we have put together includes two 2010 Olympic gold medallists and many other rising women’s hockey stars,” Fetter said. “The players who have been named to this team represent the future of the women’s game and we’re excited to see how they perform on the ice against the U.S. next week.”

In addition to two gold medallists from the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, B.C. (Rebecca Johnston and Marie-Philip Poulin), the roster for Canada’s National Women’s Under-22 Team includes two players who were centralized with Canada’s National Women’s Team during the 2009-10 season but were released prior to the Olympics (Brianne Jenner and Jennifer Wakefield) and three members of the team that won Canada’s first-ever women’s under-18 gold medal at the 2010 IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championship in April in Chicago, Ill. (Jessica Campbell, Brigette Lacquette and Jillian Saulnier).

Ten players return from last season’s National Women’s Under-22 Team, which won gold for the seventh time in eight years at the 2010 MLP Cup in Germany in January (Vicki Bendus, Laura Fortino, Jenner, Jenelle Kohanchuk, Lauriane Rougeau, Natalie Spooner, Tara Watchorn, Wakefield, Catherine White and Jessica Wong).

The newly-selected National Women’s Under-22 Team will remain in Toronto for games against the United States’ Women’s Under-22 Select Team on August 18, 19 and 21 at the MasterCard Centre.

Following the series, Hockey Canada scouts and coaching staff for Canada’s National Women’s Under-22 Team will continue to evaluate players when they return to their club teams for the 2010-11 season, in order to decide who will represent Canada at the 2011 MLP Cup next January in Switzerland. Kristen Lipscombe, Hockey Canada’s coordinator of communications, will be on site for the three-game series and is handling all interview requests. She can be reached at 403-826-4819 or klipscombe@hockeycanada.ca.