USA Hockey announced today the roster for the U.S. Women's National Team that will compete in the 2016 International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship, March 28 to April 4, at Sandman Centre in Kamloops, British, Columbia.
Eighteen of the 23 players on the roster were on the team that helped the U.S. earn the gold medal at the 2015 IIHF Women's World Championship. The roster also features 13 members of the silver medal-winning 2014 U.S. Women's Olympic Ice Hockey Team. Those players are Kacey Bellamy (Westfield, Mass.), Megan Bozek (Buffalo Grove, Ill.), Alex Carpenter (North Reading, Mass.), Kendall Coyne (Palos Heights, Ill.), Brianna Decker (Dousman, Wis.), Meghan Duggan (Danvers, Mass.), Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Idaho), Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson (Grand Forks, N.D.), Monique Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.), Michelle Picard (Taunton, Mass.), Kelli Stack (Brooklyn Heights, Ohio), Lee Stecklein (Roseville, Minn.) and Jessie Vetter (Cottage Grove, Wis.).
The 23 players represent 13 different states. Massachusetts leads the pack with four representatives followed by Wisconsin with three, while Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York and North Dakota have two. California, Colorado, Idaho, Maryland, Ohio, and Vermont all have one representative. For a complete roster, click here.
NOTES: Reagan Carey (Colorado Springs, Colo.), USA Hockey's director of women's hockey, is the general manager of the 2016 U.S. Women's National Team. Ken Klee (Denver, Colo.) will serve as the head coach of the 2016 U.S. Women's National Team at the IIHF Women's World Championship. He will be assisted by Brett Strot (Tampa, Fla.) and Chris Tamer (Dexter, Mich.) ... The U.S. is the defending champion and has played Canada in the gold medal game in all 16 of the previous events, capturing the event's top prize a total of six times (2005, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015), including five of the last six tournaments. Team USA is 63-2-6-8-1 (W-OTW-OTL-L-T) in 80 career games and has outscored their opponents 535-123.