Women’s National Team roster selected for four-game series in Japan

Canada’s Women’s National Program has selected nineteen athletes for the National Team that will compete in four games with Japan from June 23-28 in Osaka and Gifu, Japan.

Led by team captains Danielle Hennig (Kelowna, BC), Kate Gillis (Kingston, ON), and Thea Culley (Rossland, BC), of the nineteen athletes, sixteen were a part of the Canadian team that competed at the 2016 Hawke’s Bay Cup in New Zealand in April.

The roster also features fourteen of the sixteen athletes who won a bronze medal for Canada at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto last summer.

The other three athletes joining the touring team in Japan – Alexis de Armond, Nikki Woodcroft, and Shannon Pereira – were representing Canada at the Under-21 level at the 2016 Junior Women’s Pan American Championship in Trinidad and Tobago while the senior women were in New Zealand in April.

For De Armond and Woodcroft, the Japanese tour will be their second international competition after they both – along with teammate Rowan Harris, who is also headed to Japan – made their senior debut in San Diego earlier this year.

Pereira, a native of Toronto, Ontario who is part of a group of junior athletes which has been training with the senior women since the beginning of the year, will be making her senior international debut for Canada in Japan.

The Canadian women will arrive in Japan on June 18 and play matches on June 23, 25, 26 and 28. For game times, results, and recaps click here.

Canadian Women’s National Team – 2016 Japan Tour

*Denotes Team Captain

Staff – 2016 Japan Tour

Head Coach – Ian Rutledge

Assistant Coach – Steph Andrews

Video Analyst – Stef Sloboda

Athletic Therapist – Rachelle O’Brien

Team Manager – Carrie Trumpy