Twenty-Two Players to Compete in 2008 Women's Under-22 Series

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - USA Hockey today announced the 22-player roster for its U.S. Women's Under-22 Select Team that will participate in both the 2008 USA Hockey Women's National Festival in Lake Placid, N.Y., and the 2008 Under-22 Series in Pierrefonds, Que., in August.

Highlighting the roster are nine members of the 2008 U.S. Women's National Team that captured the gold medal at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Women's Championship in April. In addition, the U.S. squad includes two members of the 2008 U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team that earned the first-ever IIHF World Women's U18 Championship in January.

Half of players on the U.S. roster were members of last year's Under-22 Team, while seven are newcomers to Team USA. The 22 were selected from the USA Hockey Women's Under-22 Camp that took place in Lake Placid, N.Y., from June 24-July 1. Thirty-three players attended the camp, while five others were considered for the team, thus bringing the total candidate pool to 38 players.

Leading the U.S. defensive corps is Kacey Bellamy (Westfield, Mass./Univ. of New Hampshire), who was a gold-medal winner with the U.S. Women's National Team this year. She will be joined by two blue liners from the 2008 U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team, Anne Schleper (St. Cloud, Minn./Univ. of Minnesota) and Sasha Sherry (Lehighton, Pa./Princeton University). The remaining four defensemen - Cori Bassett (Anchorage, Alaska/Harvard University), Geena Prough (Farmington, Mich./Mercyhurst College), Jaime Rasmussen (Garden Grove, Calif./Univ. of Minnesota Duluth) and Amber Yung (Rockville, Va./Providence College) - will be making their first appearances for Team USA.

At forward, the U.S. roster contains seven members of the 2008 U.S. Women's National Team in Meghan Duggan (Danvers, Mass./Univ. of Wisconsin), Sam Faber (Mt. Sinai, N.Y./Univ. of New Hampshire), Hilary Knight (Hanover, N.H./Univ. of Wisconsin), Erika Lawler (Fitchburg, Mass./Univ. of Wisconsin), Gigi Marvin (Warroad, Minn./Univ. of Minnesota), Olympian Sarah Parsons (Dover, Mass./Dartmough College) and Kelli Stack (Brooklyn Heights, Ohio/Boston College).

The remaining forwards include twins Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D./Univ. of Minnesota), who have both competed for the United States at the Four Nations Cup, as well as newcomers Anna McDonald (New Brighton, Minn./Harvard University) and Emily West (Colorado Springs, Colo./Univ. of Minnesota).

Molly Schaus (Natick, Mass./Boston College) and Brianne McLaughlin (Sheffield Village, Ohio/Robert Morris University) will handle the netminding duties for Team USA. Schaus is a veteran of the 2008 U.S. Women's National Team, while this will be McLaughlin's first stint in net for the United States.

The U.S. Women's Under-22 Select Team will participate in the USA Hockey Women's National Festival in Lake Placid starting August 12. The team will depart for Pierrefonds, Que., on August 18 for the Under-22 Series, a three-game stand with Canada, running from August 20-23.

NOTES: The 22 roster players hail from a total of 14 states and 12 college programs. The University of Minnesota leads the pack with five players, while the University of Wisconsin and Boston College each have three ... Jackie Barto (Lewis Center, Ohio), head women's ice hockey coach at The Ohio State University and head coach of the gold medal-winning 2008 U.S. Women's National Team, will serve as head coach of the U.S. Women's Under-22 Select Team. Her assistant coaches are Jaime Totten (Mansfield Center, Conn.), assistant women's ice hockey coach at the University of Connecticut, and Steve Sertich (Bemidji, Minn.), head women's ice hockey coach at Bemidji State University. Dave Flint (Merrimack, N.H.), who was recently announced as the head coach of the Northeastern University women's ice hockey team, is the goaltending consultant.

Team USA 2008 Under-22 Series Schedule
August 20-23 - Pierrefonds, Que. - Pierrefonds Sportplexe