Hockey Canada unveils national women's team centralization Olympic roster

Hockey Canada announced Wednesday the 28 players selected to centralize in Calgary for the national women's team leading up to the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.

The roster includes three goaltenders, nine defencemen and 16 forwards. Fourteen of those players were with Canada as they earned a silver medal in PyeongChang at the 2018 Olympics, including Rebecca Johnston, Meaghan Mikkelson, Sarah Nurse, Marie-Philip Poulin and Natalie Spooner. 

One step closer to #Beijing2022! 🇨🇦

2⃣8⃣ women will centralize in Calgary beginning this summer to compete for a roster spot at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

ROSTER ➡️ https://t.co/NXk3DzyqMi pic.twitter.com/bBsGu6nlbM

— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) May 12, 2021

The final 23-player Olympic roster is tentatively scheduled to be unveiled in late December.

Hockey Canada says players and staff will relocate to Calgary at the end of July for centralization and to prepare for the 2021 IIHF Women's World Hockey Championship, which is currently scheduled for Aug. 20-31 at an undetermined location.

The national team's 2021-22 season will include games against the United States, Junior A teams from the Alberta Junior Hockey League and a potential series against Finland. 

All plans are pending the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and Hockey Canada says a full centralization scheduled will be released at a later date.

Wednesday's roster was selected by head coach Troy Ryan in consultation with national team director Gina Kingsbury. It also included support from assistant coaches Kori Cheverie, Doug Derraugh and goaltending coach Brad Kirkwood.

“When we started this Olympic quad in the fall of 2018, our road to 2022 looked very different,” said Kingsbury in a news release. “Through adversity, in particular a lack of international competition over the last 14 months, our athletes have stayed focused, committed to their training and ready to compete when the time came. We had some difficult decisions to make, but that just shows how hard our athletes have worked on and off the ice for the opportunity to centralize and get a chance to compete for 23 Olympic roster spots. We have a number of veterans on this roster in addition to some young athletes who have earned this opportunity.” ​