CALGARY, Alta. – Hockey Canada announced the names of the 43 players – representing eight of the 10 Canadian provinces – invited to Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team selection camp, taking place Aug. 6-16, 2015, in Calgary.

The camp – part of Hockey Canada’s National Teams’ Summer Showcase – will be hosted at the Markin MacPhail Centre at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park, and will see the invitees vying for spots on the 23-player squad that will travel to Lake Placid, N.Y., for a three-game series against the United States’ Women’s Under-18 Select Team Aug. 20-23.

The 43 players attending Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team selection camp will be split into two teams, Red and White, which will participate in several practices and intrasquad games, as well as off-ice dryland training, fitness testing and high performance classroom sessions. Intrasquad games are free and open to the public.

The roster will be selected by Melody Davidson, Hockey Canada’s general manager of national women’s team programs, along with head coach Lisa Haley, assistant coaches Greg Fargo and Britni Smith, goaltending coach Perry Wilson, and Hockey Canada regional scouts.

“As the talent base continues to grow at the youngest levels of Canada’s National Women’s Program, it means tough choices not only to make the team, but to earn an invite to camp,” said Davidson. “These players are the next generation of Team Canada, and we’re looking forward to having them on the ice in Calgary.”

The selection camp roster includes six goaltenders, 12 defencemen and 25 forwards. Invitations are based on evaluations by Hockey Canada scouts during the 2014-15 season, including past performances with their provincial and club teams at events such as the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George, B.C., and 2015 Esso Cup, Canada’s National Female Midget Championship, in Red Deer, Alta., as well as at Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team conditioning camp in Hamilton, Ont. in May.

Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team selection camp roster includes:

• Three players who won a silver medal with Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team at the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship in Buffalo, N.Y. (Agnew, Houston, O’Neill);

• Four players who participated in the 2015 Esso Cup, Canada’s National Female Midget Championship, in Red Deer, Alta. (Bast – Red Deer Chiefs; Oswald – Central Plains Capitals; Shirley – Saskatoon Stars; Thiessen – Red Deer Chiefs);

• Six players who won a gold medal with Quebec at the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George, B.C. (Bégin-Cyr, Corbeil, Coulombe, De Sousa, Labrecque, Vigneault)

Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team selection camp invitees, by province:

• Ontario – 17 (Agnew, Berg, Bouley, Bourbonnais, Cece, Edgar, Hoppner, Howran, Maltais, Neatby, O’Neill, Repaci, Small, Tarnowski, Thompson, Tinker, Watts)

• Quebec – nine (Bégin-Cyr, Corbeil, Coulombe, D’Astous, De Sousa, Labrecque, Lemay, Shanahan, Vigneault)

• Manitoba – six (Bell, Cooke, Elmes, Friesen, Houston, Oswald)

• Alberta – five (Bast, Cross, Lecavalier, Schneider, Thiessen)

• British Columbia – three (Knowles, Potomak, Sim)

• New Brunswick – one (Graham)

• Prince Edward Island – one (Boutilier)

• Saskatchewan – one (Shirley)

Following the series against the U.S., Hockey Canada scouts, along with the team’s coaching staff, will continue to evaluate players with their provincial and club teams during the 2015-16 season, including at the 2015 National Women’s Under-18 Championship in Huntsville, Ont., from Nov. 4-8, in preparation for selecting the Canadian team that will compete at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship, Jan. 8-15, 2016, in St. Catharines, Ont.

NOTE TO MEDIA: Esther Madziya, Hockey Canada’s coordinator of communications, will be on site in Calgary for Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team selection camp. Please contact her for any interview requests at (403) 519-5754 or [email protected].

For more information on Hockey Canada and Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team, please visit www.hockeycanada.ca, or follow along through social media at www.facebook.com/hockeycanada, www.twitter.com/hockeycanada and www.twitter.com/hc_women.