Twelve of Canada’s gold medallists from the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing will help present the best in women’s hockey at Scotiabank Arena on Feb. 1.
Marie-Philip Poulin highlights a standout group that will take the ice in the PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase, part of the NHL All-Star Thursday festivities. The leagues announced a full list of 24 players on Monday — half of them Canadian.
Poulin’s Montreal teammates Laura Stacey, Ann-Renée Desbiens and Erin Ambrose also made the cut for the 20-minute game.
New York’s Ella Shelton rounds out a large group of former Olympians participating that could have been even larger if her teammate and captain Micah Zandee-Hart, who was also part of Canada’s gold medal campaign in Beijing, wasn’t injured.
Meanwhile, with a whopping cumulative 146 Olympic and 46 World Championship medals among its list of chosen players, it’s no wonder the United States will also be well represented at the showcase.
Pyeongchang 2018 gold medallists Hilary Knight, Kelly Pannek, Megan Keller, Lee Stecklein, Kendall Coyne Schofield and Nicole Hensley will feature as part of the 11 American players.
Swiss forward Alina Müller will represent the Boston franchise as the only European on the list.
Team King vs. Team Kloss
Former tennis players and sports equality icons Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss will lend their names to the 3-on-3 sides. They both serve as PWHL Advisory Board members.
Three of the four members of the officiating team are also from Canada.
Referee Elizabeth Mantha of Longueuil, Que., linespersons Kirsten Welsh of Blackstock, Ont., and Alexandra Clarke of Weyburn, Sask., will be joined by American referee Samantha Hiller.
Other than the PWHL, they all work in the American Hockey League.
Tickets for the event are available on Ticketmaster.
WATCH l PWHL players envious of Poulin’s skills:
PWHL players answer which player’s skill they would most want to steal.
Full rosters
Team King:
- 26 Kendall Coyne Schofield, Minnesota (F)
- 21 Hilary Knight, Boston (F)
- 11 Alina Müller, Boston (F)
- 12 Kelly Pannek, Minnesota (F)
- 29 Marie-Philip Poulin, Montreal (F)
- 40 Blayre Turnbull, Toronto (F)
- 15 Savannah Harmon, Ottawa (D)
- 5 Megan Keller, Boston (D)
- 17 Ella Shelton, New York (D)
- 2 Lee Stecklein, Minnesota (D)
- 35 Ann-Renée Desbiens, Montreal (G)
- 31 Aerin Frankel, Boston (G)
Team Kloss:
- 25 Alex Carpenter, New York (F)
- 26 Emily Clark, Ottawa (F)
- 27 Taylor Heise, Minnesota (F)
- 19 Brianne Jenner, Ottawa (F)
- 20 Sarah Nurse, Toronto (F)
- 11 Abby Roque, New York (F)
- 7 Laura Stacey, Montreal (F)
- 23 Erin Ambrose, Montreal (D)
- 14 Renata Fast, Toronto (D)
- 3 Jocelyne Larocque, Toronto (D)
- 29 Nicole Hensley, Minnesota (G)
- 38 Emerance Maschmeyer, Ottawa (G)
WATCH l CBC Sports asks PWHL players which opponent they would like to avoid:
CBC Sports asks PWHL players at pre-season camp, which player they’d least want to face in the inaugural season of the PWHL.