Trio of Manitobans on Canadian women’s hockey centralization roster

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This article was published 12/05/2021 (1626 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon’s Kristen Campbell took a giant leap toward representing Canada at the upcoming Winter Olympics when she was named to the national women’s hockey team centralization roster Wednesday.

The 23-year-old goaltender will be among the 28 players who will convene at the national team’s Calgary headquarters in late July to begin training for the Games, scheduled for Feb. 4-20 in Beijing.

“You never know how things are going to go but I felt like I did everything in my control and just kind of laid it all out on the ice,” said Campbel by phone from Calgary. “It’s obviously super exciting and an honour to be named to the team and being one of the younger ones, too. It’ll be such a great experience — (one) that I have been craving now for basically my entire life.”

Two other Manitobans, veteran blue-liner Jocelyne Larocque of Ste. Anne and defenceman Ashton Bell of Deloraine also made the grade.

Campbell, a University of Wisconsin grad, and the 21-year-old Bell, who has one year of eligibility remaining at the University of Minnesota Duluth, have never played for the senior national team.

Mallard’s Brigette Lacquette, a defenceman on Canada’s silver-medal winning squad at the 2018 Olympics, was not included.

Canada’s roster includes three goaltenders, nine defencemen and 16 forwards. Five of those players will be released prior to the Olympics by Hockey Canada director Gina Kingsbury to get down to the games roster.

Veterans Ann-Renée Desbiens and Emerance Maschmeyer were the other goaltenders named to the roster. Team Canada normally takes three goaltenders to the Olympics, meaning Campbell’s roster spot appears to be secure.

The roster includes 17 players who centralized ahead of the 2018 Games with 14 of those earning silver in PyeongChang. Eleven rookies bring and injection of youth to the 2021 team.

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Campbell, who has been based in Alberta since 2020, will now prepare for a Professional Women’s Hockey Association Showcase tournament, which includes her Calgary squad and teams from Toronto and Montreal. That event runs May 19-30 in Calgary.

“It’s really nice,” said Campbell of her training setup. “My roommate (defenceman Micah Zandee-Hart) also made a team so we have our house here and we only live five minutes from WinSport (Arena), which is where all the training takes place.”

In July, the nats will begin preparations for the postponed women’s world championship, which has been rescheduled for Aug. 20-31 at a still unannounced location. IIHF president Rene Fasel has suggested the event could go to a site in Alberta.

Earlier, the Nova Scotia government shut down the tournament, slated for May 6-16, due to COVID-19 concerns.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @sawa14

Mike Sawatzky
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Mike has been working on the Free Press sports desk since 2003.

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