Only three Quebeckers were selected from a group of 28 women hockey players who would fly to Calgary in July to continue preparing for the national team for the World Championships and the Beijing Olympics.
Forward Mary-Philippe Poulin and Melody Dewed, as well as goalkeeper Ann-Renee Desbeans, survived the cuts made after selection camp that took place a few weeks earlier.
Each Olympic cycle ends with a few months of “centralization”, during which the team meets for full-time training in Western Canada. The same group will prepare for Worlds this time, which was scheduled to take place in May, but which was postponed until the end of August after Nova Scotia, which was to host the tournament, with a few days notice Canceled. A new venue for the event has not been revealed yet.
Three of the six Quebec women present at the selection camp will therefore not continue their journey with the Canadian squad. They are Laurienne Rouge, Ann-Sophie Bayette and Elizabeth Giguère.
The most surprising decision concerns Rauji. The 31-year-old defender competed in five World Championships and two Olympics, winning gold in Sochi in 2014 and silver in PyeongChang in 2018.
After joining the national event in 2018–2019 at the age of 30, Bitz hopes to participate in his first Olympics. The team ahead was from the team that won the bronze in 2019 Worlds.
As a 24-year-old Giguer, this was his first experience with the Canadian team. An outstanding NCAA scorer with Clarkson University, he will certainly have the opportunity to prove himself again in the future.
Of the 28 players who would “centralize”, 14 were in uniform at PyeongChang. In addition to Palin, the Davas and the Desbeans, they are Emily Clarke, Renata Fast, Brian Jenner, Rebecca Johnston, Jacqueline Lorouke, Meghan Mickelson, Sarah Nurse, Jill Salnier, Nathalie Spooner, Laura Stacey and Blair Turnbull.
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