Erie, Pa. - Three Mercyhurst players are among those who have been invited to Canada’s National Women's Under-22 Team selection camp next month.
Junior forward
Meghan Agosta, sophomore forward
Vicki Bendus, and incoming freshman winger
Bailey Bram will visit York University in Toronto the week of August 10 through August 17.
The players were selected to be part of the selection camp based on evaluations done by Hockey Canada regional scouts during the 2007-08 season. These evaluations included performances with their club teams, along with the National Women's Under-22 Team strength and conditioning/skating camp in May in Calgary, among other criteria.
The players attending camp are eligible to represent Canada at the 2009 MLP Cup (formerly the Air Canada Cup) in Ravensburg, Germany in early January. Canada has won the tournament six years in a row, losing just one game. Hockey Canada will use the camp to select 22 players for a three-game series against the USA's Women's Under-22 Select Team in Pierrefonds, QC in late August.
Agosta is among fifteen players who return from last year's National Women's Under-22 Team, which finished with a 7-0 record – the first perfect season in the history of the under-22 program. In addition, 11 members of Canada's silver medal-winning National Women's Under-18 Team (including Bram) will attend the camp.
“It is very exciting for us to watch Canada's female players develop, whether it is in the under-22 program, or moving up from the under-18 level,” said Melody Davidson, general manager/head coach of the National Women's Program. “We have a terrific group of players coming into camp, and we are confident whichever players are chosen will represent Hockey Canada well.”
The National Women's Under-22 Team selection camp will see the 40 players split into two teams – Red and White – which will compete with a team of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) all-stars in a series of games.
The camp will mark the second year of a two-year partnership between Hockey Canada and the CIS. The CIS will send a national team of Canadian university women's hockey players to the 2009 Winter Universiade in Harbin, China. It will mark the first time that women's hockey is part of the World University Games.