BRATISLAVA, Slovakia – The 2012 Meco Cup kicks off Tuesday, Jan. 3 in Füssen and Sonthofen, Germany, and Canada’s National Women’s Under-22/Development Team will play pre-competition games against Slovakia on Friday, Dec. 30 (11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT) and Saturday, Dec. 31 (5 a.m. ET/2 a.m. PT), both at Ondrej Nepela Arena in Bratislava.

The Meco Cup, formerly known as the MLP Cup and Air Canada Cup, gives Canada’s National Women’s Under-22/Development Team the opportunity to compete with national teams from Germany, Finland, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland. Canada enters this year’s Meco Cup as the defending gold medallist, having won eight of nine gold medals since the tournament’s 2003 inception.

Canada plays the host country in its opening game at the 2012 Meco Cup on Tuesday, Jan. 3 at the Arena Sonthofen, with the puck dropping at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT.

Head coach Laura Schuler (Scarborough, Ont./ Minnesota-Duluth, WCHA), along with assistant coaches Rachel Flanagan (Guelph, Ont./University of Guelph, CIS) and Rebecca Russell (Lethbridge, N.L./Okanagan Hockey Academy), have named Tara Watchorn (Newcastle, Ont./Boston University, Hockey East) captain. Both Chelsea Karpenko (Winnipeg, Man./Cornell University, ECAC) and Laura McIntosh (Waterloo, Ont./Ohio State University, WCHA) will serve as alternate captains when Canada’s National Women’s Under-22/Development Team wears white jerseys at the 2012 Meco Cup, while Bailey Bram (Ste. Anne, Man./Mercyhurst College, CHA) and Jillian Saulnier (Halifax, N.S./Cornell University, ECAC) are alternate captains when Canada wears its red jerseys at the tournament.

For more information on Canada’s National Women’s Under-22/Development Team and the 2012 Meco Cup, please visit www.HockeyCanada.ca.