Resor Selected to U.S. National Team Preliminary Roster

Photo by Sam Rubin

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Senior defenseman Helen Resor (Greenwich, Conn.) has been selected as one of 32 candidates for the 2009 U.S. Women’s National Team, and will attend a tryout/training camp at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid, N.Y., from March 24-30. Resor, who was the first Yale women’s ice hockey player to make the Olympics when she played for Team USA in 2006, is vying for a spot on the 21-player U.S. roster that will 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 U.S. roster includes four goaltenders, 10 defensemen and 18 forwards. It will be trimmed by 11 players prior to Team USA's March 30 departure for Finland. Team USA opens play against Japan on April 4. The bronze medal and gold medal games are set for Apr. 12. The U.S. is coached by Mark Johnson, the head coach at the University of Wisconsin, who will also coach the U.S. at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

Resor is one of 10 Olympians on the preliminary roster. She was among the nominees for the Kazmaier Award as the top women’s college hockey player in the country this season, and earned third team All-ECAC Hockey and second team All-Ivy League honors. She has also been selected to participate in the NCAA Frozen Four Skills Challenge Apr. 10 at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. Overall this season, Resor led Yale in assists with 14 and was third in points with 21. She is currently eighth nationally in scoring by a defenseman (7-14-21 in 28 games).

Resor’s 48 career assists place her tied for ninth on Yale’s all-time list in that category, and she is also tied for 12th in career points (75) and tied for 20th in career goals (27). She made history as the first Yale women’s hockey player selected to the U.S. Olympic Team roster when she was picked for the 2006 Torino Games. In addition to her bronze medal at the Olympics, she also won a gold medal with Team USA at the 2005 IIHF Women’s World Championship and won silver medals at the Four Nations Cup three times (2005-2007) and at the 2007 IIHF Women’s World Championship. Prior to Yale, she played for Noble and Greenough and Assabet Valley.