COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Hockey announced today the 22-player roster for its U.S. Women’s National Under-18 Team, which will compete at the 2016 International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 Women’s World Championship, set for Jan. 8-15 at Meridian Centre in St. Catharines, Ontario.
The roster features seven players who helped the 2015 U.S. Women’s National Under-18 Team earn a gold medal on home soil at the IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championship in Buffalo, New York. They are Cayla Barnes (Corona, Calif.), Grace Bowlby (Edina, Minn.), Rebecca Gilmore (Wayland, Mass.), Patricia Marshall (Thief River Falls, Minn.), Presley Norby (Shorewood, Minn.), Natalie Snodgrass (Eagan, Minn.) and Alex Woken (Fargo, N.D.) . Norby also helped the U.S. Women’s National Team win the Four Nations Cup earlier this month. Nineteen players on the roster also participated in the 2015 Under-18 Series vs. Canada in August.
The complete roster (eight defensemen, 12 forwards and two goaltenders) and staff listing is available here. The 22 players represent seven different states. Minnesota leads the pack with 16 representatives, followed by California, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Rhode Island and Washington with one each.
For complete coverage of Team USA, including schedule and news, click here.
All games will be streamed live and are available at usahockey.fasthockey.com.
NOTES: Reagan Carey (Colorado Springs, Colo.), USA Hockey’s director of women’s hockey, is the general manager of the 2016 U.S. Women’s National Under-18 Team … Joel Johnson (White Bear Lake, Minn.), associate head coach of the University of Minnesota women’s ice hockey team, was named head coach of the U.S. Women’s Under-18 Team for the 2015-16 season on April 30, 2015 … Joining him as assistant coaches are Katie Lachapelle (Winthrop, Mass.), assistant women’s ice hockey coach at Boston University, Maura Crowell (Mansfield, Mass.), head women’s ice hockey coach at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and Lucy Schoedel (Ithaca, N.Y.), head women’s ice hockey coach at Northwood School. Team USA has played in the gold medal game in all eight of the previous IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championships, capturing the event’s top prize four times (2008, 2009, 2011, 2015). The U.S. is 33-3-2-2 (W-OTW-OTL-L) in 40 career games at this event. The 2016 U.S. Women’s National Under-18 Team will begin practicing at HARBORCENTER in Buffalo, New York on Jan. 2.
