Cochrane’s Katy Josephs is one 31 players heading to Hockey Canada’s National Women’s U-18 team selection camp at Toronto’s MasterCard Centre this week.
The 17 year old will depart on Dec. 16 to compete at the three-day camp, Dec. 17-19. Twenty players will be selected on Dec. 20 and form a Team Canada, which will look to defend its 2010 gold medal at the 2011 IIHF World Women’s U-18 Championship in Stockholm, Sweden from Jan. 1 to 8.
The speedy forward has been working with a trainer during the past several months and said she is ready for the challenge of making the team.
“I’m excited and nervous,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to it and think it should be fun, but I’m trying not to focus on it too much and stress myself out.”
Josephs made her Team Canada debut in a three-game exhibition series against the United States in Lake Placid, N.Y., Aug. 18-21 and hopes her participation in the summer camp will benefit her chances of heading to Sweden.
“I think the competition will be the same, but I think there will be more emphasis put on the players who made it in the summer to really step up,” she said. “I think I have a good chance to make the team if I play my game and not let my nerves come into play. I just need to use my speed and show that I can compete at a high skill level.”
The coaching staff, led by head coach Sarah Hodges, and a group of Hockey Canada scouts will select the 20 members based on a series of practices and intersquad Red-White games.
Of the 31 players looking for a roster spot three are goaltenders, 10 are defencemen and 18 are forwards, with only two returning players from last year’s gold-medal-winning team.
“We’re excited to get to Toronto and see how this season’s National Women’s Under-18 Team unfolds on the ice,” Hodges said. “The players invited to the selection camp are all extremely skilled and we’re confident those chosen to compete in Sweden will represent Canada with pride in their quest for success at this year’s world championship.”
“All 31 players on this list are an important part of the National Women’s Program and represent the future of women’s hockey in Canada,” said Kalli Quinn, director of female national teams for Hockey Canada. “Don’t be surprised to see some of these players competing for spots to wear red and white on the ice in Sochi, Russia four years from now.”
Former Bantam AAA Airdrie Xtreme players Devon Fordyce and Mike Winther will be playing on the national stage this holiday season.
The pair, from Cochrane and Trochu respectively, were both named to Canada’s Team Pacific, which will compete in the 2011 World U-17 Hockey Challenge in Portage la Prairie, Man. from Dec. 29 to Jan. 4.
Canada’s five regional teams, Pacific (Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories and Yukon), West (Manitoba, Nunavut and Saskatchewan), Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island) will take on teams from the United States, Germany, Finland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
