Field Hockey Canada is thrilled to announce the 18-athlete Junior Women’s National Team roster that will travel to Barbados in April for the 2023 Junior Pan American Championship.
An extended roster traveled to Mexico at the beginning of January for a test series and training tour. The nine-day tour featured eight practice sessions and five games — versus local clubs and the Mexican national team.
According to NextGen Director and Junior Women’s Head Coach Jenn Beagan, the team took every advantage of their international tour to bond, create connections, and become a team. She said that because the athletes are spread around the continent during the year, these moments where everyone is together are especially vital to team development.
“It felt like the success of this tour was make or break for this group and it wound up being a huge success,” Beagan said. “The biggest takeaway was connecting on and off the field. We developed chemistry and refined our structures and tactics. Everyone brought their strengths to the field. We arrived as 25 individuals and we left as a team.”
This cohort of NextGen athletes has been together since the summer. They have been doing online culture development and strategy sessions. But Beagan said nothing compares to meeting in person and playing together.
“We have a team that meshes well. There are lots of leaders on the team. They support each other on and off the field. Everyone works so well together. The Mexico tour was really valuable to our development,” she said.
Harnoor Malhi, a third-year student at the University of Toronto, said the Mexico tour was important to the development of the team both on and off the field. She said one thing she noticed specifically is how this team got along so well.
“On the field, we don’t have much international experience together. It was definitely a great experience to get that opportunity to develop together,” she said. “There are no cliques, everyone just gets along so nicely. It’s mostly two groups from different sides of the country. One thing I noticed is just how hard everyone works. This tour was a great way to start off our journey to the Pan American Championships.”
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Malhi is one of four returners from Team Canada’s appearance at the Junior World Cup in South Africa last year, along with McKinley Kennedy, Arden Goddard-Despot and Allison Kuzyk. Malhi said the biggest difference between international hockey and her university and club environment is the pace of play.
“Ball speed, foot speed. The international play is so much quicker and more skilled. These are the best players in the world at their age,” she said. “Getting that international experience in Mexico will prepare us and allow us to bring it back to our universities over the next few months.”
Although this is a relatively young cohort in the junior landscape, they have some members with significant experience. Grace Delmotte, for example, played with the senior National Team at the Hockey World Cup last summer. University of Victoria’s Nora Struchtrup was a member of the 2021 Junior Pan Am gold medal team. They have several others that have trained with the senior women or toured with the JWNT over the past year and bring weighty experience.
“We arrived as 25 individuals and left as a team” – Jenn Beagan
Malhi said she expects the competition at JPAC to be fierce and that this team is doing everything they can to be ready for it.“We’re going to be playing some very skilled and experienced teams, like Argentina and the U.S., for example,” she said. “But I know we are going to be able to prepare well and be a great team. I expect us to play great hockey and show the world what we can do.”
The 18-athlete roster was selected out of the Mexico selection tour. It features athletes representing Canadian and NCAA universities across the countries. They will arrive in Barbados in April as reigning gold medallists. A top-four finish will secure a bid to the 2023 Junior World Cup in Santiago. Beagan said that despite the four openings, she expects the competition at this tournament to be high.
“You can look around and see what these PAHF countries are doing in terms of youth development, and they are all really strong. There are realistically five or six teams that are fighting for those four spots,” Beagan said. “Every team is attending with the goal of qualifying and winning. I expect it to be really challenging.”
PLAYER NAME | PROVINCE | CLUB/SCHOOL |
---|---|---|
Julia Boraston | BC | University of Victoria |
Grace Delmotte | BC | Wake Forest University |
Laine Delmotte | BC | Lafayette College |
Kayla Desormeau | ONT | Mercyhurst College |
Katherine Gibb | BC | Vancouver Hawks FHC |
Kenzie Girgis | ONT | University of BC |
Arden Goddard-Despot | BC | Kent State University |
Robyn Goh | BC | West Vancouver FHC |
Imogen Govan | ONT | Brown University |
Libby Hogg | BC | University of Victoria |
McKinley Kennedy | BC | University of Toronto |
Allison Kuzyk | BC | University of Pennsylvania |
Mallory Mackesy | ONT | University of Maine |
Harnoor Malhi | ONT | University of Toronto |
Brooke McCusker | BC | Wake Forest University |
Ella Murphy | ONT | Colgate University |
Nicole Poulakis | ONT | University of New Hampshire |
Nora Struchtrup | BC | University of Victoria |
RESERVES | ||
Mikayla Stelling | BC | University of BC |
Kirsten D'Silva | ONT | University of Toronto |
Molly Koop | ONT | University of Toronto |
Kailey Workman | ONT | Bellarmine University |