CALGARY, Alta. – Hockey Canada announced Tuesday the 22 players that will compete for Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team at the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship, taking place March 23-30 in Budapest, Hungary.

Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team includes two goaltenders, seven defencemen and 13 forwards. The roster features Karly Heffernan (Sherwood Park, Alta./Pursuit of Excellence, JWHL) and Hannah Miller (Vancouver, B.C./Okanagan Hockey Academy, JWHL), who return after winning a gold medal at the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship in Heinola and Vierumäki, Finland, last January.

The final roster also includes 21 players who were on Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team for a three-game series against the United States, which took place in Lake Placid, N.Y., last August. Canada won the series, earning victories in two of the three games at Herb Brooks Arena.

Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team also features:

• nine players who won the gold medal with Ontario Red at the 2013 National Women’s Under-18 Championship in Calgary, Alta. (Bach, Cogan, Pinkney, Leslie, MacMillan, Noronha, Sauvé, Wildfang and  Wilson-Bennett);
• four players who won the gold medal with Ontario Blue at the 2012 National Women’s Under-18 Championship in Dawson Creek, B.C. (Bach, Leslie, MacMillan and Noronha);
• two players who participated in the 2013 IIHF Women’s High Performance Camp in Sheffield, England, last July (Hart and Potomak);
• two players who won the gold medal with Canada’s National Women’s Under-18-Team at the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship in Heinola and Vierumäki, Finland (Heffernan and Miller);
• one player who won the gold medal with LHFDQ Nord at the 2013 Esso Cup, Canada’s National Female Midget Championship, in Burnaby, B.C. (Picard)

Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team, broken down by province:

• Ontario – 10 (Bach, Cogan, Leslie, MacMillan, Noronha, Pinkney, Sauvé, Tiley, Wildfang and Wilson-Bennett)
• British Columbia – six (Bellerive, Hart, Fieseler, Miller, Potomak and Spring)
• Quebec – four (Labelle, Lalancette, Picard and Stacey)
• Alberta – two (Healey and Heffernan)

Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team has been assembled by Melody Davidson, general manager of Canada’s National Women’s Team Programs, Hockey Canada’s team of scouts, along with Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team head coach Laura Schuler (Scarborough, Ont./University of Minnesota Duluth, WCHA) and assistant coaches Jackie Friesen (Regina, Sask./University of Wisconsin, WCHA), Dwayne Gylywoychuk (Winnipeg, Man.) and Cassandra Turner (Campbellford, Ont./Quinnipiac University, ECAC).

“We are thrilled about the team that we have put together. The 22 players chosen for Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team will represent our country with passion, pride and purpose,” Schuler said. “We can’t wait for the puck to drop in Budapest, and our goal is to bring home a third-straight world championship gold medal.”

Canada plays its first game at the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship against Japan at 6 p.m. local time/1 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 23 and will also take on Finland and the Czech Republic in the preliminary round. The gold medal game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. local time/1:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 30.

NOTE TO MEDIA: Please contact Kristen Lipscombe, Hockey Canada’s communications coordinator, 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, www.twitter.com/hockeycanada and www.twitter.com/hc_women.