Olympic Women's Hockey Roster Takes Shape
Canada’s women’s hockey team has been a dominant force this decade, capturing the past two Olympic titles. They head to Vancouver, with head coach Melody Davidson, to attempt their third-straight Olympic gold medal. This time, the home crowd will be behind them.
The roster, revealed Monday by Hockey Canada and nominated to the Canadian Olympic Committee, is made of 21 of this country’s finest women’s hockey players. It counts a dozen forwards, six defencemen and three goaltenders.
Fourteen previous Olympians will contribute veteran leadership (see list below) and four of them will hold the distinction of competing in every Olympic women’s hockey tournament ever played. (The sport debuted in 1998.) They are Jennifer Botterill, Jayna Hefford, Becky Kellar and Hayley Wickenheiser.
The 2010 captain will be Wickenheiser, a sharpshooter from Shaunavon, Sask. who is, by a wide margin, Canada’s highest-scoring player all-time. The alternate captains will be Hefford (Kingston, Ont.) and Caroline Ouellette (Montreal).
Olympic women’s hockey action will be held in the UBC Thunderbird Arena until the medal round at Canada Hockey Place.
2010 Olympic women’s hockey roster:
Goaltenders
Charline Labonté (Boisbriand, Que.)*
Kim St-Pierre (Chateauguay, Que.)*
Shannon Szabados (Edmonton)
Defence
Tessa Bonhomme (Sudbury, Ont.)
Becky Kellar (Hagersville, Ont.)*
Carla MacLeod (Calgary)*
Meaghan Mikkelson (St. Albert, Alta.)
Colleen Sostorics (Kennedy, Sask.)*
Catherine Ward (Montreal)
Forwards
Meghan Agosta (Ruthven, Ont.)*
Gillian Apps (Unionville, Ont.)*
Jennifer Botterill (Winnipeg)*
Jayna Hefford (Kingston, Ont.)*
Haley Irwin (Thunder Bay, Ont.)
Rebecca Johnston (Sudbury, Ont.)
Gina Kingsbury (Rouyn-Noranda, Que.)*
Caroline Ouellette (Montreal)*
Cherie Piper (Scarborough, Ont.)*
Marie-Philip Poulin (Beauceville, Que.)
Sarah Vaillancourt (Sherbrooke, Que.)*
Hayley Wickenheiser (Shaunavon, Sask.)*
Marks Previous Olympian: *
