Nine Big Red Standouts Invited to Canada's Under-22 Camp

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ITHACA, N.Y. -- Nine members of the Cornell women's hockey program have been invited to Canada's U22 National Team selection camp, which will be held from August 6-15 in Toronto, Ontario. In all, 42 players have been called in to the Canadian camp, with 36 skaters and six goaltenders vying for spots on the U22 national team.

In goal, Amanda Mazzotta is one of the six goaltenders in the U22 age bracket to be invited to compete. She is one of only two goaltenders invited who currently play for a U.S. collegiate team, with the other being Providence's Geneviève Lacasse. The six goaltenders will be cut down to four after the National Women's Program goaltending camp, to be held August 1-5 in Toronto.

Headlining the eight Cornell skaters among the 36 invited are Rebecca Johnston and Brianne Jenner, who were both a part of the Canadian senior team a year ago. Johnston was a member of the Olympic gold medal winning team at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, while Jenner was centralized in training with the senior national team, being one of the final players released from the Olympic roster.

Jenner went on to compete with the Canadian U22 national team at the MLP Cup in Ravensburg, Germany, in January, winning a gold medal at that tournament. She was joined at the MLP Cup by three other Cornell players, as rising junior Catherine White and rising sophomores Laura Fortino and Lauriane Rougeau were on the Canadian roster that won the gold medal. All four of those players have been invited to the selection camp in August.

The three other players invited to the selection camp are incoming freshmen Jessica Campbell and Hayleigh Cudmore and rising junior Chelsea Karpenko. Both Campbell and Cudmore were members of the Canadian U18 national team that won the gold medal at the 2010 IIHF World Championships. Karpenko was invited to last year's U22 national team camp but was not selected for the roster for the MLP Cup.

At the selection camp, players will be divided into Blue and Yellow teams, which will take part in practices and intrasquad games. Cudmore and Rougeau will be on the blue line for the Blue team, with Campbell, Johnston and Karpenko playing as forwards for the Blue. White and Jenner will be forwards for the Yellow squad, with Fortino playing defense.

The nine players for the Big Red are by far the most among all U.S. college programs. Boston University will have four players at the camp, while Mercyhurst, who Cornell defeated in the national semifinals of the 2010 NCAA tournament, will have three players. Clarkson, Ohio State, New Hampshire and Wisconsin each will have two players, while six schools have one representative at the camp.

The players attending the camp are eligible to represent Canada at the 2011 MLP Cup in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland in early January. Canada has won the tournament seven times in eight years, losing just two games. From the 42 total players invited to the camp, 22 will be selected first for a three-game series against the United States U22 Select Team on August 18, 19 and 21 in Toronto.