Cailtin Kraemer is the youngest forward at Canada's national team camp this summer vying for a spot with Canada's Olympic team. It's rare for a teenager to make Team Canada, but that's exactly what the 19-year-old is looking to do.
If Kraemer were to make Canada's national team, she'd be the first Canadian teen forward to play in the Olympics for Canada since Marie-Philip Poulin made her national team Olympic debut at the 2010 Games in Vancouver.
It was Kraemer, after all, who broke Poulin's Canadian U-18 scoring records in 2024.
She followed that achievement by winning the NCAA's national Rookie of the Year award with the University of Minnesota-Duluth. With the Bulldogs she scored 18 goals and 31 points in 39 games.
"She’s a pillar in the middle for us. Aside from all the points, all the goals, all the assists, just her play and the little details she does on the ice every single time she’s out there is huge," said 2024-25 Minnesota-Duluth captain Clara Van Wieren to the Duluth News Tribune. Van Wieren was a draft pick of the PWHL's Toronto Sceptres in 2025.
“She is just fierce on the ice. Her competitive nature is through the roof when she puts on that mask,” UMD head coach Laura Schuler told the News Tribune following Kraemer's Rookie of the Year award. “It’s like we have two different Caitlins. We have the fun, outgoing, playful Caitlin off the ice and then on the ice, all of a sudden she is a shark going after blood. She pushes herself each and every day in the weight room and on the ice."
Kraemer isn't the only teenager in camp as Chloe Primerano, who made her national team debut on Canada's blueline at the 2025 World Championships is also back. But Kraemer would be winning a roster spot few have been able to. It's a short list including names like Poulin, Hayley Wickenheiser, Jennifer Botterill, and Meghan Agosta.
Unlike the United States, Canada has leaned heavily on an aging veteran core. USA will bring an expected cohort of NCAA talent to the Olympics, while only Kraemer, Primerano, and netminder Eve Gascon remain in the NCAA for Canada. The rest of their roster are in the PWHL. Aside from draft pick Nicole Gosling, the other 26 players attending Canada's camp are all PWHL veterans.
Kraemer and the Minneota-Duluth Bulldogs open their NCAA season September 19 and 20 with a series against Mercyhurst. They begin WCHA play October 10 and 11 traveling to face Wisconsin.