COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Hockey announced the 23-player roster for the U.S. Women’s National Team that will compete in the 2016 Four Nations Cup from November 1-5 in Vierumaki, Finland. Games will take place at the Jarvenpaa Arena, Kerava Arena and Vierumaki Arena.
The roster features 18 members of the gold medal-winning 2015 U.S. Women’s National Team at the International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championship. Those players are Kacey Bellamy (Westfield, Mass.), Megan Bozek (Buffalo Grove, Ill.), Alex Carpenter (North Reading, Mass.), Kendall Coyne (Palos Heights, Ill.), Brianna Decker (Dousman, Wis.), Meghan Duggan (Danvers. Mass.), Nicole Hensley (Lakewood, Colo.), Megan Keller (Farmington, Mich.), Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Idaho), Monique Lamoureux-Morando (Grand Forks, N.D.), Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson (Grand Forks, N.D.), Annie Pankowski (Laguna Hills, Calif.), Emily Pfalzer (Getzville, N.Y.), Alex Rigsby (Delafield, Wis.), Haley Skarupa (Rockville, Md.), Kelli Stack (Brooklyn Heights, Ohio), Lee Stecklein (Roseville, Minn.) and Dana Trivigno (Setauket, N.Y.).
In addition to Bellamy, Bozek, Coyne, Decker, Duggan, Knight, Lamoureux-Davidson, Lamoureux-Morando, Pfalzer, Rigsby and Stack, Stephanie Anderson (North St. Paul, Minn.) and Anne Schleper (St. Cloud, Minn.) competed for the U.S. at the 2015 Four Nations Cup.
Hannah Brandt (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) will make her first Team USA appearance since the 2015 Under-22 Series against Canada and Amanda Kessel (Madison, Wis.) will be competing for the U.S. for the first time since the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Shelby Amsley-Benzie (Warroad, Minn.) will be making her debut with the U.S. Women’s National Team.
The 23 players represent 12 different states. Minnesota leads the pack with five representatives followed by Massachusetts and Wisconsin with three. Illinois, New York and North Dakota have two, while California, Colorado, Idaho, Ohio, Maryland and Michigan all have one.
A camp will be held at the Northwell Health Ice Center at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York from October 24-28 before the team departs for Finland. The three collegiate players on the roster (Keller, Pankowski and Stecklein) will not join the team until October 28 at the conclusion of the camp prior to heading to Finland.
As part of the ongoing development process, Cayla Barnes (Corona, Calif.), Taylor Heise (Lake City, Minn.) and Grace Zumwinkle (Excelsior, Minn.) will participate in the camp only. Barnes, Heise and Zumwinkle recently competed for the 2016 U.S. Women’s Under-18 Select Team at the Under-18 Series vs. Canada and helped the 2016 U.S. Women’s National Under-18 Team earn a gold medal in January at the International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 Women’s World Championship.
For more information, including a tournament schedule, roster and staff listing, click here.
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 Team. Ken Klee (Denver, Colo.) will serve as the head coach of the 2016 U.S. Women’s National Team at the Four Nations Cup. He will be assisted by Robb Stauber (Medina, Minn.), Brett Strot (Tampa, Fla.) and Chris Tamer (Dexter, Mich.) … The Four Nations Cup is an annual tournament that has been held in varying forms since 1996 (previously the Three Nations Cup). The U.S. will compete against Canada, Sweden and Finland in this year’s tournament. It is the 20h year of the tournament and the United States has competed 19 times, having not participated in 2001. The United States has captured the title six times (1997, 2003, 2008, 2011-12, 2015), finished second 12 times and third in the tournament in 2013. The Americans hold an overall record of 44-6-4-23-2 (W-OTW-OTL-L-T) in 79 Three/Four Nations Cup games.
