During today’s Winter Classic, the roster of Olympians for the USA Hockey’s Olympic Women’s Team was announced and it is spectacular. The announcement itself was very cool. They went through and introduced all the first-time Olympians before those who are returning for another fight for the Gold Medal.
We’ve seen similar rosters to this one that have brought the US some great success. Names like Hilary Knight, Amanda Kessel, Kendall Coyne Schofield – those are names we have heard on this Olympic roster countless times before. We know those players well, they have been the foundation for women’s hockey in America as we see it today and many of them want to prove that greatness once again with another gold medal. It’s good to have returning players like Megan Bozek, who hasn’t played for the US Olympic team since 2014. She’s been lighting it up for the Vanke Rays in Russia but it’s good to see her back defending the stars and stripes, I’ve missed her.
Like I’ve said, we know a lot of these players well, I’ve talked about them at great lengths on here. I am most excited to see some of these first-time Olympians out there. There are eight first-timers on this roster:
- Jesse Compher – 22, Forward, Captained at BU last year, played with US at World Championships
- Jincy Dunne – 24, Defenseman, spent last season with the PWHPA, played with US at World Championships
- Savannah Harmon – 26, Defenseman, spent last season with the PWHPA, played with US at World Championships
- Caroline Harvey – 19, Defenseman, spent last season with NAHA White in JWHL, played at World Championships with USA
- Abbey Murphy – 19, Forward, played with University of Michigan last season, played with US at World Championships
- Abby Roque – 24, Forward, played with PWHPA last season, played at World Championships with Team USA
- Hayley Scamurra – 27, Forward, played with PWHPA last season, was with Team USA at World Championships
- Grace Zumwinkle – 22, Forward, captained at the University of Minnesota last year, played at World Championships with USA
A lot of these women have played with Team USA throughout the World Championships or during the Rivalry Series but this will be a different ballgame. The Olympics are do or die and this team wants a repeat. I think they can do it. I’ll cheer for them every step of the way and I just can’t wait to get things going. I believe in this group but they’re going to have to face some tough competitors, it’s going to be an all-hands-on-deck situation if they want to win gold. They can’t just rely on the top dogs. We have a little over a month till the Olympics but it’s go time for this team already.
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Featured Image: Jung Yeon-Je/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
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