LAKE PLACID, New York – Twenty-two players who participated at the 2016 USA Hockey Women’s National Festival have been chosen for the 2016 U.S. Women’s Under-18 Select Team that will compete in a three-game series against Canada from August 18-21 at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alberta.
The USA Hockey Women’s National Festival took place August 8-12 at the Lake Placid Olympic Center in Lake Placid, New York. The U.S. Women’s Under-18 Select Team will train together until August 14 before heading to Calgary.
The roster features 11 players who helped the 2016 U.S. Women’s National Under-18 Team earn a gold medal at the International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 Women’s World Championship in St. Catharines, Ontario. They are Cayla Barnes (Corona, Calif.), Jesse Compher (Northbrook, Ill.), Alex Gulstene (Evanston, Ill.), Taylor Heise (Lake City, Minn.), Natalie Heising (Maple Grove, Minn.), Emily Oden (Edina, Minn.), Gracie Ostertag (Shakopee, Minn.), Catherine Skaja (New Prauge, Minn.), Taylor Wente (Plymouth, Minn.), Madeline Wethington (Edina, Minn.) and Grace Zumwinkle (Excelsior, Minn.).
The 22-player roster (six defensemen, 14 forwards and two goaltenders) and staff listing is available here. The 22 players represent eight different states. Minnesota leads the pack with 11 representatives followed by New York with three. California and Illinois both have two players and New Jersey, North Dakota, Michigan and Alaska each have one.
NOTES: The three-game series vs. Canada is an annual event between the two countries and has been held each August since 2007. All games from the series are being streamed live and are available at usahockey.fasthockey.com. Follow @USAHockeyScores on Twitter for live scoring updates with the #U18Series hashtag. A complete on-ice schedule, including games, and series information can be found here. Reagan Carey (Colorado Springs, Colo.), USA Hockey’s director of women’s hockey, is the general manager of the 2016 U.S. Women’s Under-18 Select 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 2016-17 season on May 23, 2016 … Joining him as assistant coaches for the season are Katie Lachapelle (Winthrop, Mass.), assistant women’s ice hockey coach at Boston University, and Courtney Kennedy (Somerville, Mass.), assistant women’s ice hockey coach at Boston College … Alli Altmann (Eagan, Minn.) is the goaltending coach.
