Parsons Named to U.S. Preliminary Roster

Photo by Mark Washburn

HANOVER, N.H. -- Junior forward Sarah Parsons (Dover, Mass.) was named to the preliminary roster for the U.S. Women’s National Team for the 2009 International Ice Hockey Federation World Women’s Championships, which is coming in April.

A tryout/training camp will be held at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid, N.Y., from March 24-30, with the final 21-player roster to be announced on March 26. Those players will go on to help the United States defend its world title at the 2009 International Ice Hockey Federation World Women’s Championship from April 4-12, in Hameenlinna, Finland.

The preliminary roster includes four goaltenders, 10 defensemen and 18 forwards, and will be trimmed by 11 players prior to Team USA’s March 30 departure for Finland.

Highlighting the roster are 24 players who have competed in previous IIHF World Women’s Championships, including 23 who have been on gold medal-winning squads, either in 2005 or 2008. Nineteen of the 20 members of the world champion 2008 U.S. Women’s National Team are in contention for roster spots on this year’s entry into the tournament.

Parsons joins the roster after a great season for the Big Green. She finished the year with 32 points on a 17 goals and 15 assists with the 17 goals coming as a career-high. Parsons was dynamite during the postseason, posting a team-high 12 points, including seven alone in the three-game series with Colgate. She was named the ECAC Hockey Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player and made her third-straight appearance in the NCAA tournament.

Parsons is no stranger to the U.S. National Team. She will be making her fourth appearance with the national team since joining the Big Green. Parsons is one of two players from ECAC Hockey appearing for Team USA as she is accompanying Yale’s Helen Resor. She was also skating with four other members of the team this past Saturday as Wisconsin will have four players joining the roster.

The U.S. Women’s National Program has enjoyed unprecedented success in the last two years. In 2008, the U.S. Women’s National Team captured its second-ever world title with back-to-back wins over Canada at the 2008 IIHF World Women’s Championship in Harbin, China. That came on the heels of the U.S. Women’s National Under-18 Team’s gold-medal fete at the first-ever IIHF World Women’s U18 Championship in January 2008.

Later that year, the U.S. Women’s Select Team earned its first Four Nations Cup championship since 2003 with a thrilling shootout victory over Canada in Lake Placid, N.Y. Finally, just two months ago, the United States defended its U18 world championship with a victory in Fussen, Germany.

Team USA opens world-championship play against Japan on April 4.