USA-Canada Women to renew rivalry

There are some great rivalries our there in hockey — Montreal and Boston; Rangers and Islanders; North Iowa Bulls and Granite City Lumberjacks.

Not many will think of this right away, but add Canada vs. USA Womens hockey teams to that list.

Since Women’s Hockey got off the ground at the International level in the late 80’s and early 90’s, the most heated, and best battles have involved the Maple Leaf going up against the Star Spangled Banner. Other teams are trying to rise to contender status in the women’s game, but it always comes down to Canada vs. USA.

If you are not sure if this is totally accurate look back on some exhibition matches between the teams in recent seasons and you will see — these players know each other well, and they are not sending Christmas cards.

The rivalry will continue this week when both the U-22 and U-18 Select teams go head to head in three game series in Lake Placid wrapping up the USA Hockey Evaluation Camps.

Here is a quick look at both teams and in particular the USA Midwest flavor:

U-22 Team

The U22 roster includes 22 players with 10 of them hailing in the Midwest.

Forwards: Of the 13 forwards, five are from the Midwest; four from Minnesota and one from Illinois. In fact, Dani Caremenesi (5’5″ 145 lbs) and Kelly Pannek (5’8″ 165 lbs) are both from the same town — Plymouth, MN. They likely played together through youth hockey and still suit up together at the University of Minnesota, joined there by fellow forwards, Hannah Brandt (5’6″ 160 lbs) of Vadnais Heights, MN and Cara Piazza (5’9″ 130 lbs) from Darien IL.

Also representing the Midwest is forward Amy Menke (5’6″ 140 lbs) from Shakopee, MN who played last season at the University of North Dakota.

Four of the teams seven defenders hail from the Midwest including in alphabetical order: Courtney Burke (5’6″ 160 lbs) from Shoorwood, MN who last season played at Wisconsin; Gracen Hirschy (5’9″ 160 lbs.) from Fort Wayne, IN who played at North Dakota; Megan Keller (5’10” 150 lbs), a native of Farmington, MI who played at Boston College and Lee Stecklein (6’0″, 170 lbs)  from Roseville, MN who played at Minnesota.

Also representing the middle 12 states is goaltender Lexie Shaw (5’7″ 145 lbs.) from Troy, MI who played last season at North Dakota.

Six team members attended University of Minnesota last season, another five at Boston College. There were three each at Wisconsin and North Dakota and two went to Harvard. Other players skated for Northeastern, Lindenwood and Shattuck-St. Mary’s.

The U-22 event will begin Wednesday (Aug. 19), with the middle game Friday (Aug 21)  and the finale on Saturday (Aug. 22). All three matches will begin at 6 p.m. (5 p.m. CST).

U-18 Team

The younger squad is made up of some of the best high school aged players in the nation with 16 of 23 coming from the Midwest and all but two of them calling Minnesota home

The team includes a dozen forwards and nine of them are from the Midwest including in random order: Sydney Brodt (5’7″ 135 lbs), from North Oaks, MN (Mounds View High School);  Emily Oden (5’9″ 145 lbs) from Edina, MN (Edina High School); Grace Zumwinkle (5’8″ 150 lbs) from Excelsior, MN (Breck High School); Taylor Heise (5’7″ 120 lbs) from Lake City, MN (Red Wing High School), Alex Woken (5’8″ 150 lbs of  Fargo, ND (Shattuck St. Mary’s); Presley Norby (5’5″ 129 lbs) of Shorewood Minnesota (Minnetonka High School), Taylor Wente (5’8″ 130 lbs) from Plymouth, MN (Maple Grove High School) Catherine Skaja (5’7″ 135 lbs.) from New Prague, MN (New Prague High School) and Natalie Snodgrass (5’6″ 155 lbs) from Eagan, MN (Eastview High School).

On defense, seven of eight hail from the Midwest and three of them: Makayla Langei (5’5 155 lbs) of Grand Forks, MN, Patricia Marshall (5’7 160 lbs) and Gracie Ostertag (5’7″ 160 lbs) played together at Shattuck St. Mary’s; Grace Bowlby (5’8″ 140 lbs.) and Madeline Wethington (5’10, 155 lbs.). Both call Edina, MN home, but Bowlby played at Edina High School while Wethington went to Blake High School.

Other defenders include: Abigail Stanley (5’8″ 146 lbs)  of Baldwin, MO who played AAA hockey last season with the Minnesota Revolution and Emily Brown (5’7″ 155 lbs) from Blaine, MN (Blaine High School).

The U-18 side will begin play on Thursday night, (Aug. 20) at 6 p.m. (5 p.m. CST) and will play first in a U-18/U22 doubleheader facing off at 3 p.m. (2 p.m. CST) Friday. The third game will be played on Sunday (Aug. 23) at 10 a.m. (9 .a.m CST).