CALGARY, ALTA. – Hockey Canada has announced the 25 players selected to represent Canada at the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championship at WinSport Arena at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Aug. 20-31.

The roster was selected from the 29 players chosen to centralize with Canada’s National Women’s Team for the 2021-22 season, leading up to the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, China. Following the world championship, all 29 players will resume their Olympic preparations.

Eight new faces (Victoria Bach, Ashton Bell, Kristen Campbell, Sarah Fillier, Emma Maltais, Kristin O’Neill, Ella Shelton, Claire Thompson) will make their world championship debuts as part of the Canadian contingent, which includes three goaltenders, seven defence and 15 forwards. The roster was selected by head coach Troy Ryan (Spryfield, N.S.), in consultation with Gina Kingsbury (Rouyn-Noranda, Que.), director of hockey operations, management consultant Cassie Campbell-Pascall (Brampton, Ont.), and the rest of the coaching staff.

“It has been a challenging 16 months for our athletes and staff, but we have never lost sight of our goal of competing for a world championship on home ice,” said Kingsbury. “We have had few opportunities to train together as a group, but our training camp has been high tempo and competitive. We are confident in our group; we are a team full of skill, youth and veteran leadership that will give us the best chance to compete for a gold medal beginning Aug. 20.”

The 10-team tournament features Canada in Group A with Finland, ROC, Switzerland and the United States, while Group B is comprised of the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary and Japan.

In addition to Canada’s opening-day game against Finland, the 31-game tournament schedule will see the host nation play ROC on Aug. 22 and Switzerland on Aug. 24 before closing out the preliminary round against its cross-border rivals from the United States on Aug. 26. Canada will play all of its preliminary-round games at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT.

TSN and RDS, the official broadcast partners of Hockey Canada, will carry extensive game coverage and analysis throughout the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championship. TSN will broadcast all preliminary-round games, quarterfinals, semifinals and medal games from WinSport Arena. RDS will provide coverage of all Team Canada games, in addition to playoff-round games.

Canada has captured 10 gold medals at the IIHF Women’s World Championship (1990, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2012), in addition to eight silver (2005, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017) and one bronze (2019).

For more information from the IIHF, please visit the official tournament website at 2021.womensworlds.hockey.

For more information on Hockey Canada and Canada’s National Women’s Team, please visit HockeyCanada.ca or follow through social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.