December 23, 2011
Posted in Alberta Edition, Female, Hockey Canada
By Kristi Patton /
It will be one of the greatest ways a hockey player can celebrate the new year for two Alberta female players.
Bruderheim’s Emerance Maschmeyer and Erika Sowchuk, who plays for the Edge School, will be representing Canada at the 2012 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championships that start on Dec. 31.
Maschmeyer is following in the footsteps of Olympian Shannon Szabados, who led Canada between the pipes to a gold medal at the 2010 Olympics. Just like Szabados, Maschmeyer is earning her stripes as a goaltender playing in the male hockey stream playing for the Lloydminster Bobcats in the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
“We’re extremely excited about the talented team that will represent Canada at the 2012 IIHF Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship,” said Team Canada head coach Pierre Alain. “These players bring great chemistry to the ice and will work hard to bring home gold from the Czech Republic to help start the new year off right.”
Both Maschmeyer and Sowchuk were members of the Alberta team that won the gold medal at the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax in February.
Assistant coach Jim Fetter hopes the team feeds off the success they had in a three-game series against the United States in August. A series they won two games to one, including a come from behind effort in the final match.
“The biggest thing we took out of that was confidence. Going into that series there was a number of players that lost to the U.S. at the world championships in previous years. A lot of players question themselves, but now beating them and especially coming back down 3-1 in the final game and win gave them a feeling and excitement that it’s possible. That is one of the biggest things we carry going into the worlds,” said Fetter.
After returning home with silver last year, he feels this edition of Team Canada is well-rounded and ready for competition.
“I think we will be solid in the back end and still have players that can score goals. We are pretty well balanced starting from the goaltending out,” said Fetter.
Retired women’s national team member and two-time gold medal Olympian Carla MacLeod will be on the bench at the world championships as an assistant coach. MacLeod, who is from Calgary, coaches the Mount Royal University Cougars women’s hockey team in the ACAC.
Canada plays its first game at the U18 Women’s World Championship against Switerzland on Dec. 31 in Prerov, and will also take on Germany and Finland in the preliminary round. The gold medal game takes place on Jan. 7 in Zlin.
Follow the team on Twitter (@HC_TeamCanada).
U18 Roster: province-by-province
Alberta – Emerance Maschmeyer, Erika Sowchuk; British Columbia - Jordan Krause; Manitoba - Ashleigh Brykaliuk, Meghan Dufault, Halli Krzyzaniak, Taylor Woods ; Nova Scotia - Alexis Crossley; Ontario - Erin Ambrose, Kristyn Capizzano, Elaine Chuli, Nicole Connery, Rebecca Kohler, Cayley Mercer, Morgan Richardson Cydney Roesler, Laura Stacey ; Prince Edward Island – Shannon MacAulay; Quebec – Catherine Dubois, Abbey Frazer, Sarah Lefort; Saskatchewan – Emily Clark
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