With roughly one month to go before the first official puck drop, Hockey Canada’s general manager of national women’s team programs, Melody Davidson, and National Women’s Team head coach Laura Schuler will make the announcement alongside some of the players who will wear the red-and-white when the IIHF Women’s World Championship comes to Kamloops March 28-April 4.

“We felt it was a perfect kick-off to the final month of preparation to bring our National Women’s Team roster announcement to Kamloops,” said Davidson. “An event like the IIHF Women’s World Championship provides inspiration to a community and it will be exciting for some of our players to be able to have a direct, positive impact on local children and hockey fans.”

The announcement will take place at Pacific Way Elementary School, followed by a national media conference call.

Kamloops gets first crack at single-game tickets

The roster announcement will come on the heels of a significant weekend for local organizers of the IIHF Women’s World Championship. Beginning on Saturday, Feb. 27, all pre-purchased ticket packages will be available for pick-up at the Sandman Centre box office from 3-7 p.m. during a special ticket pick-up event featuring food and ticket deals to that evening’s Kamloops Blazers game for IIHF Women’s World Championship ticket-holders.

On Sunday, single-game tickets for the IIHF Women’s World Championship go on sale at the Sandman Centre exclusively in advance of being available to the general public. Single-game tickets can be purchased starting at $17 each for games held at McArthur Island Sport & Event Centre, and $30 for games at the Sandman Centre. Beginning Monday, Feb. 29, fans will also be able to purchase them online.

“The support in Kamloops and across the region has been very much what we expected – fantastic, to say the least,” said Dean McIntosh, senior director of events and properties, Hockey Canada. “We expect to see the demand for our tournament packages and our Team Canada packages increase with the team rosters being unveiled over the next few weeks, and with the launch of single-game tickets, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the games reach capacity very quickly. This is a great event, and the caliber of play fans will experience will be second-to-none.”

The Team Canada ticket package includes all three Team Canada preliminary round games, two semifinals, as well as the bronze- and gold-medal games, and can be purchased for as low as $265; full-tournament packages and Sandman Centre packages (12 games for $325) are all still available for purchase online while quantities last.

Eight teams will compete in the annual event, with Canada, Finland, Russia, and the United States forming Group A, and the Czech Republic, Japan, Sweden, and Switzerland making up Group B. The full tournament schedule was released in September.

Canada’s National Women’s Team will open up the IIHF Women’s World Championship with a game against its U.S. rivals during prime time on March 28, and is also set to face Russia on March 29, and Finland on March 31 in preliminary-round play. The semifinals are set for April 3, and both the bronze- and gold-medal games will be hosted on April 4 at the Sandman Centre.

Since 1990, Canada's National Women's Team has won 10 gold medals at the IIHF Women's World Championship – the last being an overtime win against the U.S. in 2012.

For more information on the 2016 IIHF Women’s World Championship, please visit WorldWomen2016.com, or follow along through social media on Facebook and Twitter, and at Twitter.com/HC_Women.