CALGARY, Alta. – Hockey Canada announced Monday the 40 players who have been invited to Canada’s National Women’s Development Team selection camp, taking place Aug. 10-18 at the Markin MacPhail Centre, Hockey Canada’s home arena at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary.

The invitation list includes four goalies, 12 defencemen and 24 forwards. Invitations are based on evaluations by Hockey Canada scouts during the 2012-13 season, including past performances within Canada’s National Women’s Program, their club and school teams, and at provincial and national championships with Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), as well as fitness testing conducted at Canada’s National Women’s Development Team conditioning camp held in Toronto, Ont., in May.

The 40 players attending Canada’s National Women’s Development Team selection camp will be split into two teams, which will participate in several practices and intrasquad games, as well as off-ice dryland training, fitness testing and high performance classroom sessions.

Based on evaluations and performances at Canada’s National Women’s Development Team selection camp, Hockey Canada will choose 13 development team players to join the 27 senior team players who will centralize with Canada’s National Women’s Team in Calgary for training to prepare for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. The 40 players will be split into Red and White teams, which will compete against each other in a three-game series set for Aug. 19-24 at the Markin MacPhail Centre.

Hockey Canada also announced Monday that Tim Bothwell (Calgary, Alta./Alberta, CWHL) will serve as head coach, while Amanda Benoit-Wark (Welland, Ont./Ridley College, NAPHA) and Delaney Collins (Pilot Mound, Man./Mercyhurst University, CHA) will act as assistant coaches and Richard Jones (Edmonton, Alta./Parkland Hockey Academy, Bantam AAA) will be goaltending coach during Canada’s National Women’s Development Team selection camp and the subsequent series with the centralized Canada’s National Women’s Team roster.

Canada’s National Women’s Development Team selection camp roster features:

• 13 players who won gold with Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team at the 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship in Zlin, Czech Republic (Ambrose, Brykaliuk, Clark, Crossley, Dubois, Kohler, Krause, Krzyzaniak, Lefort, MacAulay, Mercer, Stacey and Woods);
• 12 players who won a gold medal with Canada’s National Women’s Under-22/Development Team at the 2013 Meco Cup in Füssen, Germany (Ambrose, Bestland, Cudmore, Edney, Kohler, Lefort, Mercer, Poudrier, Rattray, Stacey, Saulnier and Terry);
• seven players who won a gold medal with Canada’s National Women’s Under-18-Team at the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship in Heinola, Finland (Brykaliuk, Bunton, Clark, Dubois, Krzyzaniak, Murray and Newell).

Canada’s National Women’s Development Team selection camp invitees, by province:

Ontario – 17 (Ambrose, Armstrong, Bunton, Channell, Cudmore, Doyle, Edney, Fast, Howe, Kohler, Kosta, Mercer, Rattray, Stacey, Terry, Warren and Zgraja)
Quebec – seven (Davidson, Desjardins, Dubois, Lefort, Lemire, Leonoff and Poudrier)
Manitoba – six (Bestland, Bram, Brykaliuk, Kirkup, Krzyzaniak and Woods)
British Columbia – four (Fratkin, Krause, Newell and McKinnon)
Nova Scotia – two (Crossley and Saulnier)
Saskatchewan – two (Clark and Nisbet)
Alberta – one (Murray)
Prince Edward Island – one (MacAulay)

Hockey Canada scouts, along with Canada’s National Women’s Development Team coaching staff, will continue to evaluate development team candidates with their club and school teams during the 2013-14 season in preparation for upcoming national and international events.

NOTE TO MEDIA: Kristen Lipscombe, Hockey Canada’s coordinator of communications, will be on site in Calgary for Canada’s National Women’s Development Team series against Canada’s National Women’s Team. Please contact her for any interview requests at (403) 826-4819 or [email protected].

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