Ruthven’s Agosta named to Olympic squad
Canadian women’s team gunning for fifth straight Olympic gold, writes
The amount of past Olympic gold already accumulated by those on the Canadian women’s hockey team heading to the PyeongChang Olympics in February is staggering.
Of the 23 players named to the 2018 edition of the team on Friday, 14 were on the 2014 team in Sochi, six captured gold four years earlier in Vancouver and veteran Meghan Agosta was part of those two, plus the 2006 team in Turin that also won gold.
So what has Hockey Canada done to shore up its chances for a fifth consecutive gold when they hit the ice in South Korea?
With nine Olympic rookies on the squad, the team is embracing the worldwide trend toward a high-paced attack as a new wave injects more than just youth into the proven team of Canadian stars.
“The first thing that comes to mind with this group is speed,” 26-year-old forward Brianne Jenner said Friday. “With the nine rookies, we have some really athletic players who will be joining this roster and they’re going to bring a lot of speed, so we’re very excited about that.”
Jenner is one of the holdovers from Sochi. Those veterans may be relied on to carry the team and looked upon as role models, but ideally the new blood will keep it moving forward.
In the group finalized Friday, Team Canada would appear to have a formidable mix. The average age is 27, and the group is culled from a deep pool of talent from coast to coast.
“Having the young faces coming up, it’s so exciting,” said forward Marie-Philip Poulin, a two-time Olympic champion. “They bring so much. We’ve been lucky having great role models and now (some of the veterans) take that role seriously.”
Canada opens its golden defence Feb. 11 against whatever is left of the Russian women’s program that recently had six players banned for doping transgressions. The key early test will come Feb. 15 with the first meetings with Team USA.
That rivalry — the one that, let’s face it, remains the only one of consequence in the women’s game — continues to build in drama. While the Canadians pulled out the unlikely win for gold at the Sochi Olympics, the Americans responded by winning the next three world championships.
Agosta has been around long enough to know there isn’t much to separate these two, so she isn’t about to go overboard over the recent success against their rival.
“I think it definitely brings a lot of confidence and a trust in our ability that we are a great team and we can win,” Agosta said of the recent “friendly” series against the U.S., the final game of which was won 2-1 by Canada in overtime at Rogers Place in Edmonton. “But we can still be better.”
With the heaviest lifting done and the roster set, Team Canada will be in fine-tuning mode.
Head coach Laura Schuler and general manager Melody Davidson opted for a roster that includes five defencemen, 14 forwards and three goaltenders.
“It was an extremely difficult decision narrowing down our roster due to the depth of talent on our team,” Schuler said. “We’re really, really happy with where we are at and excited about our future.”