2023 Team Canada Selection Camp comes to Montreal
Photo Credit: Thor Gohl
The 2023 National Selection Camp for the Canadian Women’s Para Hockey Team will take place February 22-26, 2023 in Montreal (Tiohtià:ke). This camp will be held on the traditional unceded lands of the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) peoples, part of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
Twenty-six women have been invited from across Canada representing the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. The camp will include 15 silver medalists (Adam, Arnold, Assinck, Buchanan, Charron-Pilotte, Clements, De Boer, Frittenburg, Harris, Mah, Souveny, Spong, Tousignant, White, Yurczyszyn) who competed for Team Canada at the 2022 IPC Women’s Para Ice Hockey World Challenge in Green Bay, Wisc., USA.
In addition, it will include 2 bronze medalists who competed for Team World at the 2022 World Challenge (Bisaillon, Fanizza), 2 former Team Canada members (Gregory, Racine) along with 5 new athletes vying for their first opportunity to compete at an international level (Croteau, Darnley, Halik, King, Manning). Doxtator and Hanson are unable to participate this upcoming season but will remain as part of the WPHC High Performance program.
“We are in a great place right now as a program. The fact that all of the 2022 Team Canada players were eager to come back and compete for a spot signals these women are ready to push to the next level,” Tara Chisholm, Head Coach said. “And you can see from the roster list they will be challenged to do that with new and former players coming to compete for their place in the program. With players returning from maternity leave and a crop of young teenagers eager to get their first taste at this level I know it will be a weekend of hard fought battles all over the ice.”
Chisholm will be going into her 9th season as head coach alongside her assistant coach and former men’s Team Canada player, Derek Whitson. New to the coaching role this year will be former women’s Team Canada athlete, Geneva Coulter who has been serving as equipment manager for the past 3 seasons. Shawn Lucas, a former captain of Team Alberta Para Hockey, will be acting as guest coach for this camp.
“I am a big believer of getting former players to get into coaching roles in para sport. I know Geneva has been working hard since her retirement from the sport to learn more about the coaching side. I’m very excited to continue mentoring her and getting her more opportunities at a high level,” Chisholm states.
In addition to the coaching roles, the selection camp will be supported by a variety of professionals from across the country including, Janice Coulter (Team Manager), Katie Mitchell (Registered Physiotherapist/Certified Athletic Therapist), Dr. Lindsay Bradley (Team Physician), Dr. Ashley Olsen (Team Physician), Erica Gavel (Physiologist/Research & Innovation), Julia Alemao (Junior Sport Scientist) and Émilie Robitaille (Assistant Team Manager).
This will be the first ever selection camp that expenses are covered for both athletes and staff due to the Sticks In Campaign. This national campaign that launched on December 7, 2022 aims to raise $1 million from corporate sponsors to invest in systems change within hockey and for the first time in history, fully fund the Women’s National Para Hockey Team. Founding sponsor, Canadian Tire, has been a long-time supporter of women’s hockey and a critical partner in moving the campaign goals forward. To find out more about Sticks In, please go to www.sticksin.ca.
For more information or media inquiries please contact Janice Coulter at president@wphcanada.com.