Roster announced for Canada's National Women's Under-18 Team selection camp; Laura Schuler named head coach

CALGARY, Alta. – Hockey Canada announced Monday the 40 players that have been invited to Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team selection camp, taking place Aug. 10-18 at the Canadian International Hockey Academy in Rockland, Ont.

The invitation list includes four goaltenders, 12 defencemen and 24 forwards. Invitations are based on evaluations by Hockey Canada scouts during the 2012-13 season, including past performances with their provincial and club teams at events such as the 2012 National Women’s Under-18 Championship in Dawson Creek, B.C., and 2013 Esso Cup, Canada’s National Female Midget Championship, in Burnaby, B.C., as well as performances at Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team conditioning camp held in Toronto, Ont., in May.

The 40 players attending Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team selection camp will be split into Red and White teams, which will participate in several practices and intrasquad games, as well as off-ice dryland training, fitness testing and high performance classroom sessions.

From the selection camp, Hockey Canada will choose 22 players for a three-game series against the United States’ Women’s Under-18 Select Team, scheduled for Aug. 20-25 in Lake Placid, N.Y. Following the series, Hockey Canada scouts, along with the team’s coaching staff, will continue to evaluate players with their provincial and club teams during the 2013-14 season, in preparation for selecting the Canadian team that will compete at the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship next April.

Hockey Canada also announced Monday that Laura Schuler (Scarborough, Ont./University of Minnesota Duluth, WCHA) will serve as head coach of Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team, while Jackie Friesen (Regina, Sask./University of Wisconsin, WCHA) and Cassandra Turner (Campbellford, Ont./Quinnipiac University, ECAC) will act as assistant coaches and Joe Johnston (Lower Sackville, N.S./Dalhousie University, CIS) will be goaltending coach during Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team selection camp and the subsequent series against the U.S.

Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team selection camp roster features:

seven players who won the gold medal with Ontario Blue at the 2012 National Women’s Under-18 Championship in Dawson Creek, B.C. (Bach, Leslie, MacMillan, MacNeil, Miller, Noronha and Williams);

three players who participated in the 2013 IIHF Women’s High Performance Camp in Sheffield, England, earlier this month (Hart, Potomak and Welsh);

two players who won the gold medal with Canada’s National Women’s Under-18-Team at the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship in Heinola, Finland, this January (K. Heffernan and Miller);

one player who won the gold medal with LHFDQ Nord at the 2013 Esso Cup, Canada’s National Female Midget Championship, in Burnaby, B.C. (Picard)

Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team selection camp invitees, by province:

Ontario – 24 (Bach, Boughn, Clairmont, Edney, Hartwick, R. Heffernan, Leslie, MacMillan, MacNeil, Marchment, Miller, Murphy, Noronha, Pinkney, Pozzebon, Quinn, Sauvé, Sucharda, Tiley, Titus, Welsh, Wildfang, Williams and Wilson-Bennett)

British Columbia – six (Bellerive, Erickson, Hart, Miller, Potomak and Spring)

Quebec – four (Labelle, Lalancette, Picard and Stacey)

Alberta – three (Fieseler, Healey and K. Heffernan)

Manitoba – one (Krzyszczyk)

New Brunswick – one (Boissonnault)

Nova Scotia – one (MacAskill)

NOTE TO MEDIA: Kristen Lipscombe, Hockey Canada’s coordinator of communications, will be on site in Rockland for Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team selection camp. Please contact her for any interview requests at (403) 826-4819 or [email protected].

For more information on Canada’s National Women’s Program and Hockey Canada, please visit www.hockeycanada.ca/nwt, or follow along through social media at www.facebook.com/hockeycanada, and www.twitter.com/hc_women.