CALGARY, AB – Hockey Canada announced on Wednesday that fifty-seven of Canada’s top female hockey players, including eighteen (18) Olympic gold medalists from 2006, will be in attendance at the 2006-07 National Women’s Team Fall Festival in Kenora, Ontario from September 2-10, 2006.

The players attending Canada’s National Women’s Team Fall Festival will be divided into three teams by the coaching staff and will play a series of intersquad games in Kenora. All practices and game day skates are open to the public free of charge.

Tickets for all games at the Fall Festival are available for purchase at the Kenora Recreation Centre Box Office.  Ticket prices are as follows:        $5 for the Championship Game and all games from Monday, September 4 through Thursday, September 7;

$2 for all games on Friday, September 8 and the morning of Saturday, September 9.

The list of invited players named today is the result of extensive scouting by Hockey Canada’s Head Scout of the National Women’s Team, Wally Kozak, in collaboration with regional scouts.  Kozak attended numerous women’s hockey camps and events during the 2005-06 season and with additional input from members of the National Women’s Team coaching staffs and National Women’s

Team Head Coach and General Manager Melody Davidson, Kozak assembled this list of players for the Kenora event.

FOR FALL FESTIVAL ROSTER, CLICK HERE

The list of players includes:

• Six (6) goaltenders, 18 defencemen and 33 forwards;
• Eighteen (18) members of the 2006 Olympic Champion Canadian Women’s Team (identified on the roster);
• An additional six (6) players who were centralized for 2005-06 (Small, Bonhomme, Bredin, Collins, Bechard, Riggs); Collins and Small were alternate players for the Women’s Olympic Team;
• Fifteen (15) players from Canada’s National Under-22 Team which just completed a three-game series against the U.S. in Ottawa, winning two games of the three game series;
• Fifty (50) players with international experience
• 32 players who have played with Canada’s National Women’s Team
• 45 players who have played with Canada’s National Under-22 Team
• Seven (7) National Women’s Team rookies who have not played an international game with the National Women’s Team to date (Dosser, Dupuis, Harrigan, Irwin, Marchese, Pachal, Stephenson);
• Thirty-five (35) players that will be playing in the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL) in 2006-07;
• Nineteen (19) players that will be playing College hockey in 2006-07 (17 – NCAA; 2 – CIS);
• Players from the following Hockey Canada branches;
  • Twenty-four (24) from the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association which manages female hockey in Ontario on behalf of the Ontario Hockey Federation, the Ottawa District Hockey Association and Hockey Northwestern Ontario (Agosta, Apps, Bonhomme, Dosser, Ferrari, Garland, Harrigan, Hefford, Hosier, Irwin, Johnston, Logan, Marchese, McArthur, McMeekin, Perks, Piper, Pounder, Riggs, Smith, Stephenson, Sunohara, Weatherston, West);
  • Eleven (11) from Hockey Quebec (Chartrand, Chouinard, Goyette, Guay, Harbec, Kingsbury, Labonté, Ouellette, Scanzano, St-Pierre, Vaillancourt);  
  • Seven (7) from Hockey Alberta (Bourgeois, Bredin, Hall, McLeod, Szabados, Wallace, Walton)
  • Five (5) from Hockey Manitoba (Botterill, Collins, Fridfinsson, Gagnon, Small)
  • Four (4) from the Saskatchewan Hockey Association (Bechard, Pachal, Sostorics, Wickenheiser)
  • Two (2) from Hockey Nova Scotia (French, Rittmaster)
  • Two (2) from Hockey Newfoundland and Labrador (Eustace, Russell)
  • One (1) from B.C. Hockey (Kawamoto)
  • One (1) from Hockey New Brunswick (Dupuis)

Twenty-four of the 27 players centralized in Calgary in August 2005 for the 2005-06 Olympic season will be attending this Kenora camp.  Defenceman Becky Kellar (Hagersville, ON) is expecting a second child and is not available to participate at this Kenora camp.  Cassie Campbell (Brampton, ON) announced her retirement earlier in the day on Wednesday, and forward Dana Antal (Esterhazy, SK) retired this past winter.  

Three players were invited but will not be able to attend the event in Kenora.  Defencemen Jennifer Jeffrey and Bobbi Jo Slusar are injured, while forward Noémie Marin is with Canada’s National Women’s Softball Team at the World Championship in Beijing, China.

The fifty-seven players at this camp in Kenora will all be vying for positions with Canada’s National Women’s Team for events during the 2006-07 season, including the 2006 Four Nations Cup, in Kitchener, ON from November 5-12, 2006 and the 2007 IIHF World Women’s Championship, which will take place in Winnipeg and Selkirk, Manitoba from April 3-10, 2007.  (Tickets are on sale now for the World Women’s in April through www.ticketmaster.ca).  The coaching and scouting staff will also use this Kenora camp as an opportunity to evaluate and identify players for upcoming seasons leading up to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, BC.

For a complete National Women’s Team Fall Festival Schedule, click here

Canada’s National Women’s Team will be taking part in the 2006 Four Nations Cup in Kitchener, ON from November 5-12.  Tickets can be purchased by calling 1-800-265-8977 or 1-519-578-1570 or on-line at www.centre-square.com or www.ticketmaster.ca.

For more information on Hockey Canada’s National Women’s Team, visit Hockey Canada’s official website at www.hockeycanada.ca.

» 2006-07 National Women's Team | Roster | Schedule