Canada Names World Championship Roster

Hockey Canada named their 23 player roster for the upcoming 2024 IIHF women's World Championships.

Hockey Canada today announced their 23 player roster for the upcoming IIHF World Championships in Utica, New York.

Among the 23 players named were newcomers Nicole Gosling and Julia Gosling. The cousins reunited earlier this season at the December stops of the Rivalry Series.

With only two newcomers, Canada will again field a veteran lineup for the 2024 World Championships. Their forward group includes Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey, Natalie Spooner, Brianne Jenner, Sarah Nurse, Emma Maltais, Blayre Turnbull, Kristen O'Neill, Jamie Lee Rattray, and Danielle Serdachny who all won silver with Canada at last year's World Championship.

The blueline also features multiple returnees from last year's roster including Jocelyne Larocque, Renata Fast, Jaime Bourbonnais, and Ella Shelton. In net, Ann-Renee Desbiens, Emerance Maschmeyer, and Kristen Campbell return.

With Claire Thompson currently out of hockey, the door was opened for at least one change to Hockey Canada's roster. The team also made a change in leaving behind veteran Micah Zandee-Hart, who is currently captaining New York in the PWHL. Zandee-Hart missed much of this season with an injury. In their place is PWHL Ottawa defender Ashton Bell and NCAA blueliner Nicole Gosling. Gosling had a strong showing at the Rivalry Series in December and is one of the top defenders in NCAA hockey with Clarkson.

It was actually a little bit surprising to see Anne Cherkowski left off Canada's roster given the noticeable impact she had for Canada at the Rivalry Series. To crack the lineup however, she would have needed to usurp Kristen O'Neill or Jamie Lee Rattray, which many thought she'd done. 

Instead, the lone new forward to the roster is Julia Gosling, captain of St. Lawrence in the NCAA. Gosling was a game changer for Canada at the Rivalry Series consistently appearing as one of their best players. She was lined up alongside fellow NCAA standout Danielle Serdachny, who was recently named a top ten finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award alongside fellow Team Canada forward Sarah Fillier. Serdachny and Gosling may find themselves lined up alongside each other at Worlds again.