CALGARY, Alta. – Following three days of preliminary round action at the 2013 National Women’s Under-18 Championship, hosted in partnership by Hockey Canada, Hockey Alberta, Hockey Calgary and Girls Hockey Calgary, the semifinals are set for Saturday, Nov. 9 at the Markin MacPhail Centre.

Ontario Blue, which finished second in Pool A, will take on Alberta, first place in Pool B, in the first semifinal at 4 p.m. MT. Ontario Red, which finished second in Pool B, will take on Quebec, which finished first in Pool A, in the second semifinal at 7 p.m. MT. The winners of the two semifinals will face off for the gold medal at 4 p.m. MT on Sunday, Nov. 10.

Placement games also take place Saturday, with Pool A’s fourth-place team British Columbia playing Pool B’s fourth-place team Saskatchewan at 10 a.m. MT for seventh place, while Pool A’s third-place Team Atlantic taking on Pool B’s third-place team Manitoba at 1 p.m. MT for fifth place. All games are at the Markin MacPhail Centre, Hockey Canada’s home arena at Canada Olympic Park.

Placement games, semifinals and the bronze medal game will all be webcast by FASTHockey for free at www.hockeycanada.ca/nwu18. The gold medal game will be aired on TSN2, official broadcaster of Hockey Canada, at 8 p.m. MT/10 p.m. ET. Check your local listings for broadcast times in your area.

Single-game tickets for the 2013 National Women’s Under-18 Championship are available by clicking HERE. Tickets to both placement games and semifinals Saturday, Nov. 9 are $14.50 each and tickets to both the bronze medal and gold medal games Sunday, Nov. 10 cost $17 each, not including applicable fees. Please email [email protected] for more information.

The eight rosters feature all 22 players who played with Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team and defeated the United States in a three-game series in Lake Placid, N.Y., in August, including Karly Heffernan (Sherwood Park, Alta./Edge School, JWHL) and Hannah Miller (North Vancouver, B.C./Okanagan Hockey Academy, JWHL), who helped Canada win the gold medal at the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship in Heinola and Vierumäki, Finland, in January.

The 2013 National Women’s Under-18 Championship marks the first time Alberta has hosted the event since its 2001 inception in Trois-Rivières, Que. The National Women’s Under-18 Championship is held annually, although it is replaced by the Canada Winter Games every four years. This year’s tournament will help celebrate the 25th anniversary of Girls Hockey Calgary, which was established in 1988 by local women’s hockey advocates Suzanne Jackett and Shannon Miller. Miller went on to win a silver medal as head coach of Canada’s National Women’s Team at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.

The 2013 National Women’s Under-18 Championship brings together the best female hockey players born in 1996 or later. The tournament serves as an important platform for Hockey Canada scouts, led by general manager of National Women’s Team programs Melody Davidson, who will evaluate candidates for the Canadian contingent that will compete at the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship in Budapest, Hungary, in March.

A number of Canadian women’s hockey stars have competed at the National Women’s Under-18 Championship, including players who are now centralized in Calgary with Canada’s National Women’s Team in preparation for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

• Meghan Agosta-Marciano (Jan. 2005 – Ontario Red)
• Gillian Apps (2001 – Ontario Red)
• Vicki Bendus (Jan. 2005 – Ontario Blue; Nov. 2005 – Ontario Red)
• Courtney Birchard (Nov. 2005 – Ontario Red)
• Bailey Bram (2007 – Manitoba)
• Mélodie Daoust (2007, 2008, 2009 – Quebec)
• Laura Fortino (2007, 2008 – Ontario Red)
• Haley Irwin (Jan. 2005 – Ontario Red)
• Brianne Jenner (Nov. 2005 – Ontario Blue; 2007, 2008 – Ontario Red)
• Rebecca Johnston (Nov. 2005 – Ontario Red)
• Jocelyne Larocque (Jan. 2005, Nov. 2005 – Manitoba)
• Marie-Philip Poulin (Nov. 2005, 2007, 2008 – Quebec)
• Lauriane Rougeau (Nov. 2005, 2007 – Quebec)
• Natalie Spooner (Nov. 2005, 2007 – Ontario Red)
• Jennifer Wakefield (Jan. 2005, Nov. 2005 – Ontario Red)
• Catherine Ward (Jan. 2005 – Quebec)
• Tara Watchorn (2007 – Ontario Red)

NOTE TO MEDIA: Please contact Kristen Lipscombe, Hockey Canada’s coordinator of communications, for any National Women’s Under-18 Championship interview requests at (403) 826-4819 or [email protected].

For more information on Girls Hockey Calgary, please visit www.girlshockeycalgary.com; for more information on Hockey Calgary please visit www.hockeycalgary.ca; and for more information on Hockey Alberta, please visit www.hockeyalberta.ca.

For more information on the 2013 National Women’s Under-18 Championship, please visit www.hockeycanada.ca/nwu18c, and follow via social media at www.facebook.com/womensu18 and www.twitter.com/hc_nwu18.