Team Canada Roster Set for Women's Worlds

Amidst swirling injury rumours, Team Canada has released their roster for the Women's World Championships, starting April 9th in České Budějovice, Czechia.

The foundation of the team is staying pretty much the same, with 17 of last year's gold medal-winning team returning for another tournament.

Good news for Canadians and Victoire fans, Ann-Renée Desbiens is on the roster. The Victoire goaltender left the game against Boston earlier this week with an apparent knee injury. With Team Canada and Ottawa Charge goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer out on LTIR, there was a lot of nervous energy around the Canadian goaltending situation. Of course, Desbiens being on the roster doesn't guarantee anything, but it's great to see that she is at least being named. Kristen Campbell (Sceptres, PWHL) and Ève Gascon (UMD, NCAA) join the roster as well.

Six players—Gardiner (Victoire, PWHL), Gascon, Miller (Sceptres, PWHL), Primerano (Minnesota, NCAA), and Jacques (Frost, PHWL)—will make their IIHF Women's Worlds debut.

Miller joins the team after putting in a request with the IIHF to allow her to compete. Born and raised in British Columbia, she represented Canada as a U18 before joining Team China when China recruited non-native players for their national team. Now that China no longer allows these players to compete, Miller will join Canada's senior team.

Chloe Primerano and Ève Gascon are the only NCAA players to make the roster, compared to Team USA's nine. With this addition, Primerano becomes the youngest player since Marie-Philip Poulin to join Canada at Worlds and is the second-youngest defender ever.

Previous Team Canada members Julia and Nicole Gosling, Jamie Bourbonnais, Corrine Schroeder, and Ashton Bell were left off the roster. Fans were also mourning that Jessie Eldridge and Michela Cava, who are both having strong PWHL seasons, didn't make the roster.

"With less than a year to go until the 2026 Olympics, this is our final opportunity to face a number of opponents and compete at the highest level as part of our preparation," Gina Kingsbury, Team Canada general manager, said in the the team's press release. "We're excited about the team we have assembled to contend for a gold medal while also looking down the road to Milan."

The tournament gets underway on April 9th and Team Canada will face Finland first on April 10th.