University of Minnesota Athletics
Five Gophers to Represent U.S.
12/16/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
MINNEAPOLIS - Senior Lee Stecklein and four Gopher alumnae are among the 24 players selected for the U.S. Women's National Team that will play Canada in a pair of upcoming games. Megan Bozek, Hannah Brandt, Amanda Kessel, and Anne Schleper join Stecklein in representing the Red, White, and Blue.
Game one of the series is set for 3:30 p.m. CT Saturday at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Mich., as part of the first-ever Team USA Winter Champions Series. The two rivals play again at 6 p.m. CT on Monday, Dec. 19, at Progressive Auto Sales Arena in Sarnia, Ontario.
Bozek, Kessel, Schleper, and Stecklein are among 13 Olympians on the 24-player U.S. roster, which also includes 22 members of the U.S. Women's National Team that won the Four Nations Cup in early November and 20 players that won the gold medal at the IIHF Women's World Championship in April.
In total, seven Gopher representatives will take the ice in the USA-Canada December Series as sophomore Sarah Potomak and future Gopher Amy Potomak are set to skate for Canada's National Women's Team, which was announced in late November.
The U.S. Women's National Team was selected at the conclusion of the USA Hockey Women's Winter Training Camp held this week at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan.
As part of the Team USA Winter Champions Series, Saturday's U.S.-Canada women's hockey game will be broadcast live on NBCSN with Gord Miller calling the play-by-play, Olympic gold-medalist A.J. Mleczko providing color commentary and Leila Rahimi serving as the rinkside reporter.
The Team USA Winter Champions Series is a daylong celebration of the Road to Pyeongchang that will feature three Olympic events broadcast on NBC and NBCSN. In addition to hockey, the series will include luge and the new Olympic event of big air snowboarding.
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