CALGARY, AB – Canada’s National Women’s Team will hold a training camp this week in Moncton, NB, with head coach Melody Davidson running the team through on-ice sessions and four games against local Midget AAA boys teams. The National Women’s Team training camp runs from October 9-13.

Hockey Canada also announced on Wednesday that forward Kelly Béchard (Sedley, SK) will not attend the October training camp for personal reasons. This leaves Canada’s roster at 22 players (three goaltenders, 11 defencemen and eight forwards) for the National Women’s Team October training camp.

Hockey Canada will use the camp to help determine who will represent Canada at the 2009 IIHF World Women’s Championship (April 4-12 in Hameenlinna, Finland) and, also, to help finalize which players will be centralized in Calgary, AB in preparation for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, BC.

The National Women’s Team October camp will run in conjunction with the Atlantic Challenge Cup. The 13th edition of the Atlantic Challenge Cup will bring together top players in the male under-14, U15 and U16 categories, along with the female U15 and U18 categories. The event is held to prepare players from the Atlantic provinces for competition in international play. For more information, go to www.atlanticchallengecup.com.

In addition, Hockey Canada will hold a number of development activities throughout the week, in its goal of leaving a legacy in the promotion of grassroots hockey in the area. The development activities will be focused on players and coaches alike.