CALGARY, Alta. – Hockey Canada announced Friday the 40 players who have been invited to Canada’s National Women’s Under-22/Development Team camp, taking place August 7-16 at the Canadian International Hockey Academy in Rockland, Ont.

The invitation list includes four goalies, 12 defencemen and 24 forwards. Invitations have been based on fitness testing conducted this spring and evaluations by Hockey Canada scouts during the 2010-11 season, including past performances within Canada’s National Women’s Program, with their club teams and at provincial and national championships for leagues such as Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

CLICK HERE FOR PLAYERS INVITED TO CANADA’S NATIONAL WOMEN’S UNDER-22/DEVELOPMENT TEAM CAMP

Hockey Canada also announced Thursday that National Women’s Team alumna Laura Schuler (Scarborough, Ont./University of Minnesota Duluth, WCHA) will serve as head coach, while Rachel Flanagan (Guelph, Ont./Hockey Canada) and Rebecca Russell (Lethbridge, N.L./Okanagan Hockey Academy) will serve as assistant coaches during Canada’s National Women’s Under-22/Development Team camp.

Following the camp, Hockey Canada scouts, along with the team’s coaching staff, will continue to evaluate players with their club teams during the 2011-12 season, in preparation for selecting the Canadian team that will compete at the 2012 MLP Cup next January in Füssen, Germany. Canada has won this international tournament eight times in nine years, losing just two games.

Canada’s National Women’s Under-22/Development Team camp will see the 40 players split into two teams, Blue and Yellow, that will participate in several practices and intersquad games over the course of the week. It will be held in conjunction with Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team selection camp, which will split another 40 players into two teams, Red and White, for practices and intersquad games.

CLICK HERE FOR THE SCHEDULE FOR CANADA’S NATIONAL WOMEN’S UNDER-22/DEVELOPMENT TEAM CAMP

Canada’s National Women’s Under-22/Development Team camp invitation list features:

· One player who won a gold medal with Canada’s National Women’s Team at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, B.C. (Poulin)

· Two players who were centralized with Canada’s National Women’s Team in Calgary, Alta., during the 2009-10 season (Jenner, Poulin)

· Three players who won a silver medal with Canada’s National Women’s Team at the 2011 IIHF World Women’s Championship in Winterthur and Zurich, Switzerland (Poulin, Spooner, Watchorn)

· Three players who won a silver medal with Canada’s National Women’s Under-18-Team at the 2011 IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championship in Stockholm, Sweden (S. Bram, Edney, Kosta)

· Twelve players who helped Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team win its first-ever gold medal at the 2010 IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championship in Chicago, Ill. (Armstrong, Bestland, Campbell, Cudmore, Daoust, Davis, Howe, Mercer, Poudrier, Rattray, Saulnier, Terry)

· Sixteen players who won gold with Canada’s National Women’s Under-22 Team at the 2011 MLP Cup in Kruezlingen, Switzerland (B. Bram, Douville, Fortino, Haverstock, Kohanchuk, McIntosh, McKeough, Ménard, Prevost, Rougeau, Saulnier, Spooner, Terry, White, Watchorn, Wong)

This will be the first National Women’s Program camp for four players: Laura Brooker (Fergus, Ont./Wilfrid Laurier University, OUA), Mel Desrochers (Welland, Ont./St. Lawrence University, ECAC), Reagan Fischer (Irma, Alta./Dartmouth College, ECAC) and Sasha Nanji (Markham, Ont./Dartmouth College, ECAC).

Canada’s National Women’s Under-22/Development Team camp invitees, broken down by province:

Ontario – 22 (Armstrong, Babstock, Brooker, Cudmore, Desrochers, Edney, Fortino, Howe, Jenner, Kosta, Mazzotta, McKeough, McIntosh, Ménard, Mercer, Nanji, Prevost, Rattray, Spooner, Terry, Watchorn, White)

Québec – six (Daoust, Douville, Leonoff, Poudrier, Poulin, Rougeau)

Manitoba – five (Bestland, B. Bram, S. Bram, Grenier, Kohanchuk)

Nova Scotia – three (Haverstock, Saulnier, Wong)

Alberta – two (Fischer, Pacholok)

Newfoundland and Labrador – one (Davis)

Saskatchewan – one (Campbell)

Hockey Canada will also be holding several female development activities in Rockland, including seminars for coaches and officials, skills camps for players, as well intermission mini-games and Experience a Dream, which will give young girls the chance to join under-18 players for off-ice and on-ice warmups during the Canada-United States three-game series. Please contact Trina Radcliffe, Hockey Canada’s manager of female development, for more information at (403) 777-3601 or tradcliffe@hockeycanada.ca.

For more information on Canada’s National Women’s Under-22/Development Team, please visit www.hockeycanada.ca.