(Calgary) After a cancellation and postponement, Canada’s top young female hockey players are finally starting to prepare for their international debut.
Posted at 10:48 a.m.
A selection camp bringing together 40 players takes off on Tuesday in Calgary to form the Canadian team for the 2022 Women’s Under-18 Championship from June 6 to 13 in Madison and Middleton, Wis.
The tournament was moved from Linkoping and Mjolby, Sweden, and rescheduled to January when it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2021 Women’s Under-18 Championship in the same Swedish cities had been canceled while the Men’s Under-20 World Championship in Edmonton and the Men’s Under-18 Championship in Frisco, Texas went ahead. last year, causing consternation in the women’s hockey community.
When the International Ice Hockey Federation announced the cancellation of the 2022 women’s tournament two weeks before the Jan. 8 puck drop and the eve of the men’s under-20 championship in Edmonton — which lasted only days due to the outbreaks — discontent in the women’s hockey world has intensified on social media.
Hockey Canada announced on Jan. 20 the names of the 23 under-18 players who would have worn the maple leaf in Sweden.
“We made a selection before the World Championship was canceled and in honor of these young people, because we still did not know in January if we were going to have a World Championship. We felt it was important for them to learn that they had been named to the team,” Hockey Canada director of operations Gina Kingsbury said Monday.
With the 2022 tournament postponed until late spring in the United States, 24 forwards, a dozen defenders and four goaltenders have been invited to the selection camp for the first Women’s Under-18 World Championship in more than two years.
“It’s really important for women’s hockey because I can’t imagine two years in a row without any competition in this age group,” Kingsbury continued.
“I see it through a high performance lens. What will it look like in 2030 and 2034?
“In general, the repercussions are greater. There is the university. These girls were assigned nationally, but also locally. They haven’t had their normal seasons. There were a lot of restrictions and they had to adapt accordingly. »
All those who were named to the initial team in January have been invited to the selection camp.
Two-thirds of the Canadian Olympic team that won gold in Beijing are alumni of a world under-18 championship, including captain Marie Philip-Poulin and Natalie Spooner who played in the first tournament in 2008 in Calgary.
“I did a quick average age of our athletes, how long did it take them to get to their first Olympics since their first U18 world championship and that was 6.8 years old,” said noted Kingsbury. 2030 is their realistic time frame for them to be at that level.
“They need this international experience. Now they have the opportunity to see where they stand with the best in our country and to be able to play at that level and elevate their game to that level and at that pace. It is an essential experience for them. »
Canada lost 2-1 in overtime to the United States in the last Under-18 final on January 2 in Bratislava, Slovakia, 2020.