| Event To Serve as Pre-Camp for U.S. Women’s National Team Ahead of World Championship | |
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Hockey announced today the 84 players who have been invited to the 2021 USA Hockey Women’s National Festival, which will take place Aug. 5-13 at the Super Rink in Blaine, Minnesota.The Festival is an annual event that brings together the top female players in the U.S., from the U18 level to the national team. “While this Festival will be a little bit different, it’s great to get our top players together to interact, train and scrimmage,” said Katie Million, director of the women’s national team program for USA Hockey. The Festival will serve as a pre-camp for the U.S. Women’s National Team, which will depart Blaine on August 10 for Calgary, Alberta, and the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championship, which will commence on Aug. 20. Typically, the U.S. and Canada faceoff in a three-game series with teams at the U18 and U22 levels following the Festival, but because of COVID restrictions, that will not be the case this year. “We’re still not quite back to normal yet,” said Million, “and we’ve made some adjustments, including not having as many U23 players part of this camp as we typically do. And while we won’t have the U18 and U22 Series against Canada, we’re excited for our players to compete against each other in a game setting.” The U.S. Women’s National Team Festival is closed to the public through Aug. 10, however, once the national team departs for the IIHF Women’s World Championship, the scrimmages set for Aug. 11-13 will be open to the public, including a U18 intrasquad scrimmage set for 2 p.m. CT on Aug. 11, along with scrimmages between the U23 and U18 teams on Aug. 12 at 12 p.m. and Aug. 13 at 10 a.m. All scrimmages will be held on Rink 5 at the Super Rink.Million noted that the Festival plays a significant role in evaluation of players who are candidates for the U.S. Under-18 Women’s National Team that will participate in the 2022 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship, Jan. 8-15, in Sweden. NOTES: The athletes invited to the Festival come from 20 different states. Minnesota leads the way with 27 representatives followed by Illinois with nine, Michigan and New York with seven, Massachusetts and Wisconsin with five, California, Missouri and Pennsylvania with three, and Connecticut, New Hampshire, Ohio and Texas with two. Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota and Washington all have one representative … All Team USA games in the upcoming IIHF Women’s World Championship can be seen live on NHL Network. (USA Hockey Photo) |
