Canada’s National Women’s Development Team is ready to open the 2016 Nations Cup against Sweden on Jan. 4.

Mélodie Daoust (Valleyfield, Que./McGill University, RSEQ) has been selected to captain Team Canada as it aims to defend gold after its 4-0 victory over Sweden in the 2015 Nations Cup gold-medal game.

The 23-year-old Olympic gold-medallist will be joined on the leadership team by Shannon MacAulay (Mount Herbert, P.E.I./Clarkson University, ECAC), Cassandra Poudrier (Lachenaie, Que./Cornell University, ECAC) and Kelly Terry (Whitby, Ont./Toronto, CWHL) who will serve as alternate captains throughout the tournament.

“It’s a huge honour to be named captain, and it’s always great to wear the Canadian jersey,” said Daoust. “Wearing the ‘C’ and representing Canada is a great feeling and I feel so lucky to wear it. I have so much help from my teammates, we’re a really great group here and we’re going to have a lot of fun together.”

As defending champion, Canada opens the tournament against Sweden on Jan. 4 at 3 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET), and also faces Russia on Jan. 5 in preliminary-round action. Both the bronze- and gold-medal games will be played on Jan. 7. A complete tournament schedule and live stats can be found here.

Canada’s roster for the 2016 Nations Cup includes two goaltenders, seven defencemen and 12 forwards, and features seven returning gold-medallists from its 2015 Nations Cup roster (Bach, Bram, Kohler, MacAulay, Poudrier, Stacey, Terry).

The Nations Cup, formerly known as the Air Canada Cup, MLP Cup and Meco Cup, brings together Canada’s National Women’s Development Team and national teams from Finland, Germany, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland for a four-day international tournament.

Canada is a 10-time gold-medallist at the Nations Cup, winning gold in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2015. Canada finished with the bronze medal at the 2012 Meco Cup.

For more information on Hockey Canada and Canada’s National Women’s Development Team, please visit www.hockeycanada.ca, or follow along through social media at www.facebook.com/hockeycanada, www.twitter.com/hockeycanada and www.twitter.com/hc_women.