By Canadian Press

Veteran forwards Poulin, Johnston lead Canada’s bid to reclaim Olympic hockey gold

Jan 11, 2022 | 2:18 PM

CALGARY — Marie-Philip Poulin and Rebecca Johnston headline Canada’s Olympic women’s hockey team roster unveiled Tuesday.

The two women will represent Canada for the fourth time in their careers after winning Olympic gold in both 2010 and 2014, and silver in 2018.

The 23-player roster of three goaltenders, seven defenders and 13 forwards was announced virtually by Hockey Canada.

Thirteen women return from the team that lost 3-2 in a shootout to the United States in the 2018 gold-medal game in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Canada opens its bid to reclaim gold Feb. 3, which is the day before the opening ceremonies, in a preliminary-round game against Switzerland in Beijing’s National Indoor Stadium.

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The gold-medal game is Feb. 16.

Twenty-nine players centralized in Calgary in July to begin Olympic preparation. Defender Meaghan Mikkelson and forwards Victoria Bach and Kristin O’Neill were the final cuts from the team.

Defender Jamie Bourbonnais and forwards Jessie Eldridge and Julia Gosling were released Dec. 3.

Mikkelson, a three-time Olympian and the oldest player on the centralized roster at 37, didn’t play games until mid-December.

A severe knee injury sustained during a Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association game in May required surgery in June, and a long rehabilitation.

Defenders Erin Ambrose and Micah Zandee-Hart, who were released from the 2018 team, were named to the 2022 roster.

Kristin Campbell, Ann-Renée Desbiens and Emerance Maschmeyer are Canada’s goaltenders.

Ambrose, Zandee-Hart, Ashton Bell, Renata Fast, Jocelyne Larocque, Ella Shelton and Claire Thompson round out the defenders.

Emily Clark, Mélodie Daoust, Sarah Fillier, Brianne Jenner, Emma Maltais, Sarah Nurse, Jamie Lee Rattray, Jillian Saulnier, Natalie Spooner, Laura Stacey and Blayre Turnbull join Poulin and Johnston at forward.

Canada edged the United States 3-2 in overtime Aug. 31 for its first women’s world championship since 2012. That world championship was rescheduled and relocated to Calgary after Nova Scotia cancelled the April tournament.

Canada’s women have played a combined 27 games since July in the world championship, and against the United States and Finland women, male Junior A and under-17 teams and the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association (PWHPA).

A nine-game Rivalry Series against the U.S. was curtailed to six games, however, due to COVID-19 cases on the Canadian team, which also delayed the Dec. 22 announcement of the Olympic roster.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 11, 2022.

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press