CALGARY, Alta. – Hockey Canada has announced the selection of 21 players to Canada’s National Women’s Development Team travelling to Füssen, Germany, to compete at the 2018 Nations Cup Jan. 3-6, 2018.

The Nations Cup - previously hosted under the names Air Canada Cup, MLP Cup, and Meco Cup – features Canada’s National Women’s Development Team as well as national teams from Finland, Germany, Russia, Sweden, and Switzerland this year for four days of competition.

Player selections were led by Melody Davidson, Hockey Canada’s general manager of national women’s team programs, and Gina Kingsbury, director of national women’s team programs for Hockey Canada, alongside the team’s coaching staff – head coach Noémie Marin (Acton Vale, Que./John Abbott College, CEGEP), assistant coaches Carla MacLeod (Calgary/Edge School, CSSHL) and Matt Desrosiers (Port Colborne, Ont./Clarkson University, ECAC), and goaltending consultant Gord Woodhall (Winnipeg/Winnipeg, MFMHL) – with input from the organization’s regional scouts.

“Following a very successful summer camp where we had the opportunity to play teams from U SPORTS and Japan, we continued to evaluate players as they embarked on regular season action with their club teams to come to this group of players who will represent Canada at the Nations Cup,” said Kingsbury, a two-time Olympic gold-medallist for Canada in women’s hockey. “These players are part of the up-and-coming Canadian talent that we are tracking as we look towards next year’s IIHF Women’s World Championship and beyond to the 2022 Games. To be able to provide opportunities for them to play high-level, international events like the Nations Cup is invaluable for them as players, and for us as a management group as we continue to build our pipeline to Canada’s National Women’s Team.”

The roster , consisting of two goaltenders, seven defencemen, and 12 forwards, includes:

• Five silver-medallists from the 2017 Nations Cup (Agnew, Bach, Bourbonnais, O’Neill, Stacey);
• Four players who skated to silver at the 2017 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship (Bell, Maltais, Potomak, Shirley); and
• Two players who will make their debut with Team Canada in international competition (Deguire, Shelton).

Canada will open the 2018 Nations Cup against Finland at 9 a.m. ET/6 a.m. PT on Jan. 3. The schedule also has the team facing Russia on Jan. 4 before the tournament culminates with the gold-medal game at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on Saturday, Jan. 6.

A pre-tournament game is also planned for Dec. 30 against Austria.

Canada has won gold 11 times at the Nations Cup (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016).

For more information on Hockey Canada and Canada’s National Women’s Team Program, please visit HockeyCanada.ca , or follow through social media onFacebook,Twitter, and Twitter.com/HC_Women.