Bulldogs Lead Canada U-22 Selections

CANADA’S NATIONAL WOMEN’S UNDER-22 TEAM NAMED FOR THREE-GAME SERIES VS. USA IN PIERREFONDS, QC; MEGHAN AGOSTA NAMED TEAM CAPTAIN, BLAIS AND LAROCQUE NAMED ALTERNATE CAPTAINS

TORONTO – Hockey Canada announced on Sunday Canada’s National Women’s Under-22 Team roster that will take part in a three-game series vs. USA’s Women’s Under-22 Select Team from August 20-23 in Pierrefonds, QC, just outside Montreal. The players were selected by head coach Sarah Howald (Regina, SK/University of Regina, CIS) and assistant coaches Pierre Alain (Mirabel, QC/St-Jérôme, Collégial AA) and Jim Fetter (Waterloo, ON/Wayne State University, CHA), along with National Women’s Team head coach Melody Davidson and Hockey Canada’s regional scouts.

The coaching staff also announced that 2006 Olympic gold medalist Meghan Agosta (Ruthven, ON/Mercyhurst College, CHA) will be Canada’s captain. Emmanuelle Blais (Montreal, QC/University of Minnesota-Duluth, WCHA) and Jocelyne Larocque (Ste-Anne, MB/University of Minnesota-Duluth, WCHA) will serve as alternate captains.

Canada’s roster of 22 players was selected following a seven-day camp from August 10-17 in Toronto, ON, attended by 40 of the top under-22 female hockey players in Canada – four goaltenders, 12 defensemen and 24 forwards. The camp included games between two Canadian teams and a team of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) all-stars.

“The coaching staff is very excited about the team that we have selected that will represent Canada during this series against the United States in Pierrefonds,” says Howald. “It was a very competitive selection camp and a testimony to the growth of women’s hockey in Canada. The players named today should be very proud of their accomplishment.”

Canada’s National Women’s Under-22 Team includes:
11 players who played with the under-22 program in 2007-08, a team which finished with a 7-0 record – the first perfect season in the history of the under-22 program (Agosta, Birchard, Blais, Fridfinnson, Irwin, Johnston, Larocque, Smith, Thibault, Wakefield, Ward)

5 players who won a silver medal with Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team at the 2008 IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championship in January 2008 in Calgary, AB (Bram, Haverstock, Karpenko, Rougeau, Spooner)

22 players who have taken part in either the National Women’s Under-18 Championship or the Canada Winter Games, the regional and provincial components of Canada’s female hockey Program of Excellence

5 players who will be representing Canada for the first time (Bendus, Bettez, Kessler, Knox, Maschmeyer)

The 22 members of Canada’s National Women’s Under-22 Team are all products of the Hockey Canada development system, which is operated by Hockey Canada’s member branches. Six branches will be represented this August with Canada’s National Women’s Under-22 Team: