FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 12/20/2022
CONTACT: Jon Lundin, Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games Head of Communications & Media ([email protected]) Tel: 518-637-6885
Purchase tickets HERE for the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games women’s ice hockey tournament
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – The U.S. women’s ice hockey team has a good chance to add to its medal haul at the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games, set for Jan. 12-22.
Playing as the No. 2 seed in a six-team tournament and on home ice for the first time since women’s hockey made its FISU World University Games debut in 2009, the U.S. team’s best results have been bronze medals in 2013 and 2017.
The Lake Placid 2023 FISU Games, an 11-day competition and educational festival, will feature 1,443 collegiate-athletes, ages 17-25, from more than 540 universities across 43 countries. The competition consists of 12 winter sports contested throughout northern New York, including Lake Placid, Saranac Lake, Wilmington, North Creek, Canton and Potsdam.
All women’s preliminary-round games take place at Maxcy Hall on the SUNY Potsdam campus. The women’s tournament begins Jan. 11 with Great Britain vs. the Czech Republic, the day before the Opening Ceremony. The U.S. women open play Jan. 12 against No. 3 Japan, which beat the U.S. for bronze in 2019, the last time the winter FISU World University Games were held. The 2021 Games in Switzerland were cancelled due to the worldwide pandemic. Other seeds are No. 1 Canada, No. 4 Great Britain, No. 5 Slovakia and No. 6 Czech Republic.
Four teams will advance to the Jan. 20 semifinals and the Jan. 21 gold and bronze medal games will take place in Lake Placid’s newly renovated 1980 Herb Brooks Arena at the famed Olympic Center. The medal games will take place on the same day as the men’s tournament semifinals. The men will play for gold and bronze on Jan. 22, the Games’ final day.
If the women’s seeds hold form, it will be three-time champion Canada vs. the United States for gold – a matchup echoing the sport’s most famous rivalry on the Olympics and World Championship stage.
Of the U.S. women’s 23 players, nearly half – 10 – are 2022 graduates, five from NCAA Div. I and five from NCAA Div. III, including NCAA Div. III champion Middlebury College’s Madeline Leidt. Current students include 10 from NCAA Div. I and three from NCAA Div. III schools.
“I’ve never had a chance in the past to coach in an international event,” Team USA head coach Brendon Knight told uscho.com. Knight is Utica University women’s assistant coach and former women’s associate head coach at Syracuse University. “I saw this as a great opportunity. The more and more I found out about the event, the more and more I got excited about it. It’s really going to showcase the best players, particularly at Division III, and give them an opportunity to play for their country.”
Knight will be familiar with the hockey venue, both on-ice and off. He played for SUNY Potsdam and coached at his alma mater from 2002-2005. Knight also was head coach at Hamilton College and has played internationally. Similar to an Olympic Village, all 400-plus Ice Hockey athletes, both men and women, will be housed in SUNY Potsdam’s Knowles Hall, with living quarters and a dining hall close to where preliminary rounds will be played.
LAKE PLACID 2023 FISU WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES U.S. WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY ROSTER
Eliza Beaudin — Elmira ’22
Clare Conway — Worcester State
Allison Corser–James Chatham
Madeline Giordano — Maine ’22
Shannon Griffin — Princeton ’22
Sasha Hartje — LIU
Maggie Hatch — Robert Morris
Callie Hoff — Wisconsin-River Falls ’22
Annie Katonka — Plattsburgh ’22
Mikayla Lantto — LIU
Madeline Leidt — Middlebury ’22
Hayley Lunny — Providence ’22
Erin McArdle- – Plattsburgh ’22
Gianna Meloni — Yale ’22
Alexandra Nolan — Chatham
Lydia Passolt — Bemidji State ’22
Savannah Popick — Saint Anselm
Calista Rowbottom — Mercyhurst
Kaitlyn Schooley — Robert Morris
Elizabeth Simmons — Vermont
Lauren Spino — LIU
Natalie Tuchnisky — Saint Anselm
Jeannie Wallner — LIU
Team USA Staff/school
Brendon Knight — coach/ Utica University
Melissa Piacentini — assistant coach/ Northeastern University
Emily McNamara — assistant coach/ Hamilton College
Paul Flanagan — general manager/ Syracuse University
George Frank — equipment manager/ Clarkson University
Fans can follow the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter with @LakePlacid2023, @SaveWinterHQ, #lakeplacid2023, #savewinter.
For more information about the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Games or to purchase tickets, visit www.lakeplacid2023.com.
PHOTO COURTESY: FISU
MEDIA ADVISORY: Application requests for working media accreditation for the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games has been extended through December 30, 2022. To apply for media accreditation, click HERE. To download the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games’ media guide click HERE, the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Games’ media services guide is available HERE.
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