7 players to make worlds debut as Canadian women's hockey team looks to youth
The Canadian women's hockey team will take a young roster to the world championship in Denmark next month. It will be the first major tournament since the Canadians lost the Olympic final to the U.S. in February.
Shift comes after Canada lost to U.S. at Olympics, last year's world championship
Karissa Donkin · CBC Sports
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When the Canadians arrive in Denmark in the coming weeks to try to reclaim the women's hockey world championship, it will be with a remarkably different roster than the one that lined up at the Olympics this past February.
That veteran-laden roster finished second to the Americans, after a hard-fought gold-medal game went into overtime.
Zoom further out, and you'll see a Canadian team that failed to beat the Americans over eight straight matchups. At times, the Canadians looked slower and less connected than the Americans, who embraced young talent over the last four years.
But if the roster for the first major tournament of a new Olympic quad is any indication, things are changing on Team Canada.
Six players will make their world championship debut next month in Denmark, which will host the world championship from Nov. 6 to 16.
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"There is a great sense of energy, hunger and determination within this group," head coach Kori Cheverie said in a statement. "We’re looking forward to building on that momentum as we prepare to compete in Denmark.”
The roster includes several players who have made a mark at the Under-18 level, including 18-year-old Rosalie Tremblay (University of Wisconsin), 18-year-old Hayley McDonald (Ohio State University), and 19-year-old Sara Manness (Clarkson University).
Nineteen-year-old defender Chloe Primerano is one of six college players who will suit up for Canada at the upcoming women's world championship. (Melissa Majchrzak/The Associated Press)
Three other collegiate players, 19-year-old Chloe Primerano (University of Minnesota), 20-year-old Caitlin Kraemer (University of Minnesota Duluth) and 23-year-old Ève Gascon (University of Minnesota Duluth) return for their second world championship.
Gascon has had a phenomenal start to her NCAA season, only allowing two goals in five games so far this season, while posting four shutouts.
Other players forced their way on to the team with stellar performances in the PWHL, including Ottawa Charge forwards Rebecca Leslie and Sarah Wozniewicz, PWHL Las Vegas defender Kendall Cooper, PWHL Hamilton defender Nicole Gosling, and Montreal Victoire forward Jessie Eldridge.
It will be Eldridge's first world-championship appearance since 2022, despite being one of the top offensive producers in the PWHL. Only three players have scored more goals than Eldridge since the league launched in 2024.
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Leslie and Wozniewicz will make their world-championship debuts after helping lead the Ottawa Charge to the Walter Cup final. Leslie scored 14 goals in 30 regular-season games for Ottawa last season, tying Eldridge for second in the league, behind Minnesota's Kelly Pannek.
"This is a new landscape so the program needed to adapt to the new landscape," Canadian GM Danièle Sauvageau said last month, ahead of a training camp in Quebec City.
"The landscape is to look at who has success at the PWHL level, not only for a season but for the last [several seasons]. If you look closely, there are players in that category who have been successful. Now what we want to see is could they translate this success, this level of skill, this level of compete with the best-on-best at the international level. In order to know that, we need to see them and we need to obviously see what they can do among the group of the players that will be in Quebec City."
Several veterans to miss tournament
Only 13 members of the Olympic team were named to the roster. Several notable veterans will not be there, including captain Marie-Philip Poulin, who had major knee surgery in July. It's not yet clear when Poulin might be able to return to the ice.
Also absent is Vancouver Goldeneyes forward Sarah Nurse, who missed training camp with back issues, and Toronto Sceptres forward Blayre Turnbull, who is pregnant.
It's the first roster named by a new management group and coaching staff, led by Sauvageau and Cheverie.
Montreal Victoire head coach Kori Cheverie was named head coach of the Canadian women's national team this past summer. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)
Cheverie's coaching staff will also include Caroline Ouellette (Montreal Victoire), Alison Domenico (University of Ottawa), and Kris Sparre (PWHL Hamilton).
Canada and the U.S. will play two exhibition games ahead of the world championship. The first will be on Oct. 28 in Windsor, Ont., followed by a game in Plymouth, Mich. on Oct. 30.
PWHL training camps are set to open on Nov. 18.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Karissa Donkin is a reporter with CBC Sports who covers the PWHL, women's hockey and lots more. You can reach her at karissa.donkin@cbc.ca.
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