When you hear about the name Kessel stitched on the back of a hockey jersey, Boston Bruins center Phil Kessel is probably the first who comes to mind, but the hockey world needs to make room for another Kessel – 16-year-old Amanda.

The youngest of the three Kessel children will continue make a name for herself when she suits up to play for Team USA at the 2008 IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championship in Calgary.

“I’ve always wanted to play for Team USA,” said the Madison, WI native, whose ultimate career goal is to play for the USA at the Winter Olympics. “It’s an honour.”

Kessel said she has never felt any extra pressure or attention playing with the name Kessel, but instead feels it has helped her.

“It definitely helps having my brothers around, especially my older brother Phil. I’ve grown up watching him play and I’ve learned how competitive you have to be.”

Kessel started playing hockey at the age of three, following in her two older brothers’ footsteps. She played on boys’ teams until Bantam, and made the switch to girls’ hockey last year because the boys were, quite simply, getting too big.

“It’s been a tough transition,” Kessel said. “It’s been hard to adapt to but I’m starting to get used to it.”

Kessel is attending Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault, MN, where she plays on the girls’ prep team. The team entered the Christmas break with a record of 30 wins, two losses and one tie, and Kessel had 18 goals and 54 points in those 33 games.

A letter came in the mail early in 2007, inviting Kessel to be one of 56 players at the USA’s Under-18 tryout camp. Twenty-two players wound up at a week-long camp in Lake Placid, where the final two cuts were made.

With two older brothers heavily involved in hockey, Kessel has had a lot of support and advice – not to mention some talent-filled shinny games – along the way.

Starting with the support of her parents, Phil Sr., who played in the Canadian Football League for the Calgary Stampeders in 1982, and Kathy, Kessel has a lot of dependable people to turn to for advice.

While her oldest brother Phil serves as an inspiration as he makes a living in the NHL, the battle he won against cancer just one year ago is an inspiration to many in and beyond the hockey world.

Kessel’s other brother, Blake, plays in the United States Hockey League (USHL) for the Waterloo Blackhawks, and got a taste of international hockey himself in November, when he suited up for the USA at the 2007 World Junior A Challenge in Trail and Nelson, BC.

“They’ve told me what I need to do to succeed,” Kessel said of her brothers’ international advice. “They’ve told me what our team needs to do – we can’t take a shift off.”

The biggest piece of advice, though, was to have fun. And Kessel intends on having just that.

“I’m excited to play Team Canada,” she said. “I’ve watched my brothers play against them and they haven’t succeeded very much, so I’d like to beat them.”

This week in Calgary, she might finally get her chance.

» 2008 World Women's Under-18 Championship