April 6, 2011
• U.S. Roster | Canada Roster | 2011 IIHF championship | Live Stats for U.S. vs. Canada
MADISON, Wis. – Fresh off a national championship with the Badgers, sophomore Brianna Decker (Dousman, Wis.), senior Meghan Duggan (Danvers, Mass.) and junior Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Idaho) are active with the U.S. Women’s National Team, which will play a pair of games against Canada on Thursday and Friday in Ann Arbor, Mich.
The two games are part of a selection/training camp featuring thirty players who make up the preliminary roster for the U.S. Women's National Team. The camp will determine the U.S. roster for the 2011 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Women’s Championship in Zurich and Winterthur, Switzerland, scheduled for April 16-25.
The pre-world championship games between the U.S. and Canada will take place at 6 p.m. (CT) Thursday and Friday in the Olympic Rink at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube, home to USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program. Limited tickets are available and can be purchased by calling USA Hockey’s NTDP at 734-327-9251. Adult tickets are $10, while student tickets are $5.
Along with Decker, Duggan and Knight, two additional players with Wisconsin ties are on the U.S. preliminary roster. Former Badgers Molly Engstrom (Siren, Wis.) and Jessie Vetter (Cottage Grove, Wis.) round out the Cardinal and Red representatives suiting up for the U.S.
On the Canadian side, former Badgers Meaghan Mikkelson (St. Albert, Alberta) and Bobbi Jo Slusar (Swift Current, Saskatchewan) will take part in the 2011 IIHF World Women’s Championship and take on the U.S. squad this week.
Hockey Canada announced its 21-player roster for the world championship on Wednesday. Senior Mallory Deluce (London, Ontario) and sophomore Stefanie McKeough (Carlsbad Springs, Ontario) were among 36 players who took part in Canada’s National Women’s Team selection camp April 2-5 to battle for one of 21 spots, but Mikkelson and Slusar were the lone UW representatives to make the Canadian squad.
The 2011 IIHF World Women's Championship features the U.S., Sweden, Russia and Slovakia in Group A and Canada, Finland, Kazakhstan and Switzerland in Group B. The event takes place in Zurich, Switzerland, in the ZSC Lions Zurich’s 10,630-seat Hallenstadion, and at the 3,000-capacity Deutweg rink in Winterthur.
The U.S. will look to defend its back-to-back world titles from 2008 and 2009; a world championship was not held in 2010 due to the Olympic Winter Games.
