Eleven Minnesota natives have earned the opportunity to represent USA Hockey in a series against Canada following their performance in the 2014 USA Hockey Women’s National Festival.  During the festival, USA Hockey selected players to participate on two teams, an Under-18 Team and an Under-22 Select Team.

Each of the teams will head to Calgary, Alberta to compete in a three-game series against Canada on August 21-14.  The teams were selected from a group of 69 players that competed in a five day camp at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid.  The festival included off-ice testing, practices and scrimmages in an effort to evaluate all of the players as well as prepare them for their upcoming competition.

The rosters for the Under-18 and Under-22 teams were announced on Sunday afternoon, giving the players four days to prepare for their first game together. 

Four Minnesotans, all of which will play for the University of Minnesota this season, were selected to the Under-22 Select Team.  The U-22 team includes three players who helped the U.S. earn a silver medal in Sochi, with one of them being Lee Stecklein of Roseville.

The Under-18 Select Team will have seven Minnesota natives on the roster.  Two of those seven, Grace Bizal (Minnetonka) and Patricia Marshall (Thief River Falls), were also on the 2014 U.S. Women’s U-18 team that earned a silver medal in Hungary at the IIHF’s U-18 World Championships this past March.  Another Minnesota native and the current Associate Head Coach of the University of Minnesota Joel Johnson (White Bear Lake) has been selected to lead the team as its head coach.

All games from the series are being streamed live and are available at usahockey.fasthockey.com.