Three Manitobans named to women’s Oly hockey team

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This article was published 11/01/2022 (1388 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A trio of Manitobans will be representing Canada at the Beijing Winter Olympics as members of the national women’s hockey team.

Goaltender Kristen Campbell of Brandon and blue-liners Jocelyne Larocque of Ste. Anne and Deloraine’s Ashton Bell were all named to the 23-member squad Tuesday after participating in Hockey Canada’s centralization roster since last summer.

Larocque, 33, will be making her third appearance on women’s hockey’s grandest stage. She said the excitement of getting the news never gets old.

“I feel like that little kid that set out a dream watching the ‘98 Olympics,” said Larocque by phone from Calgary. “I can still remember watching every game in that ‘98 Olympics, being nine years old, and telling my parents that I wanted to be there one day.

“I just feel so honoured to just be able to live out my dream and the fact that I can play the sport that I love, that’s done so much for me and has given me so much joy and happiness and to be able to play at the highest level. I just feel really lucky.”

The 24-year-old Campbell and Bell, 22, will be among 10 Canadians making their Olympic debuts.

“It’s been tremendous amount of growth for an entire group, not just our rookies but also some of our vets are playing their best hockey that I’ve ever seen them play,” the national team’s director of hockey operations Gina Kingsbury told reporters.

“I think that’s an attribution to our head coach and our coaching staff and just a puzzle that they were able to build all season long. Starting off with the world championship, (they) continued to build throughout the daily training environment and all the games that we’ve played.”

Six members of the centralized roster did not make the final cut.

The Canadians, four months removed from knocking off the Americans in the gold-medal game at the world championship, will be brimming with confidence.

The world title was Canada’s first since 2012 and the national team followed that up by winning four of six games during the recent USA-Canada Rivalry Series.

“Obviously, starting the year with that win (at the worlds) was very special for all of us — we’ve been waiting since 2012 to win that world championship,” said Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin. “So it was very good, but obviously now it’s behind us. We’ve been working towards that Olympic Games, that gold-medal game. It’s been in our focus for a while now.”

The Rivalry Series was limited to six games, with games Dec. 20 in St. Paul, Minn., Jan. 3 in Edmonton and Jan. 6 in Reed Deer, Alta., cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns. Originally, the Canadian roster was to have been unveiled on Dec. 22 but was then delayed amid the cancellations.

“We were prepared at that point to make our final player selections,” said head coach Troy Ryan. “So recent changes haven’t really impacted final player selection all that much.”

The Canadians will travel to China on Jan. 26 with the women’s Olympic hockey tournament scheduled for Feb. 3-17.

Tuesday’s announcement also came with a warning for all Canadian athletes to remain vigilant during the pandemic threat.

“We got our COVID test yesterday and until that charter on the 26th, if we get COVID anytime in there we can’t go to China,” said Larocque. “So it is definitely very nerve-wracking. It’s honestly been a challenge and a struggle.

“But the good thing is that we’re taking an insane amount protocols to stay safe: We’re in single rooms (in the hotel). We eat our meals in our rooms. We have these small groups where we work out really distanced from each other. We’re wearing masks on the ice, we’re wearing masks off the ice. So there’s comfort that we’re doing everything possible to keep everyone healthy.”

For the next two weeks, it will be business as usual for Team Canada.

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“Our daily training environment doesn’t change a whole lot now that the team was selected,” said Ryan. “We’re here in Calgary together as a group. We have the opportunity to practise on a regular basis, train on a regular basis (and) regular video sessions.”

Ryan likes his team’s chances of improving on a silver-medal performance at the 2019 Games in Pyeongchang.

“When our team’s kind of firing on all cylinders, I think it’s a team that just plays with a ton of confidence,” he said. “We play the game fast and and responsible and we play the game the right way. They’ve been a joy to coach and a pleasure for me to coach all year.”

mike.sawatzky@winnipegfreepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14

Mike Sawatzky
Reporter

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

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