Olympic roster to be named today
The Canadian women’s hockey team has scheduled a news conference today when the 2018 Olympic team is expected to be unveiled.
Hockey Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee said Thursday it will be a “significant announcement.”
Twenty-eight players were invited to try out for the squad that will attempt to defend gold in February’s Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
They’ve been training full time and playing a regular schedule of games since August.
Olympic women’s rosters will be 23 players — three goaltenders and 20 skaters — which is an increase on the three and 18 of 2014. Olympic men’s hockey rosters are 25.
Forward Amy Potomak of Aldergrove, B.C. and defender Erin Ambrose of Keswick, Ont., were released Nov. 20. Three more skaters will be cut.
Goaltenders Shannon Szabados of Edmonton, Genevieve Lacasse of Kingston, Ont., and AnnRenee Desbiens of Malbaie, Que., will be Canada’s three goalies in Pyeongchang.
They will continue to compete for coveted starts at the Winter Olympics, which open Feb. 9.
The Canadian women concluded their six-game pre-Olympic series against archrival United States with a 2-1 overtime win Sunday in Edmonton. and opened the door for Mahura.
“Who knows what can happen? We need to prepare for everything,” said head coach Dominique Ducharme. “We said it before, Josh is a great kid, a great player. We had a lot of depth at camp on defence. It’s good to have him back with us, we’ll have to see what happens in the next few days.”
Fabbro played in an exhibition against Denmark last Friday but left the 5-2 win early as a precautionary measure. Ducharme says Fabbro is day-to-day but hasn’t skated this week. Canada faces Switzerland in Hamilton tonight in another exhibition before beginning the world championship tournament on Dec. 26 against Finland in Buffalo, N.Y.