28 PWHL Players Invited To USA Hockey's Women's National Festival

USA Hockey will host a pair of events in Lake Placid, New York, in August, including the USA Hockey Women’s National Festival, which will feature 28 members of the PWHL.

The camp will take place from August 4-11 at The Olympic Center. At the same time, the Girls National Under-18 Select Player Development Camp will take place from August 4-9 at the Northwood School.

Following the camp, players will be selected for USA's Collegiate Select and U-18 Select teams to play a trio of games against Canada's National Development Team and U-18 Select teams on August 14, 15, and 17 in St. Catharines, Ontario.

USA's Collegiate select team, which this season will expand to include any player with NCAA eligibility in the upcoming season, will be coached by national team head coach John Wroblewski, assisted by Cheslea Walkland and Molly Engstrom, while the U-18 roster will be coached by Liz Keady Norton with Amber Fryklund and Courtney Kessel assisting.

28 PWHL Players Attending

Among the players invited to USA's Women's National Festival are 28 players who are slated to suit up in the PWHL next season. That group includes 2024 PWHL Draft picks Cayla Barnes (Montreal), Sydney Bard (Boston), Lauren Bernard (Toronto), Hannah Bilka (Boston), Britta Curl (Minnesota), Izzy Daniel (Toronto), Elle Hartje (New York), Dominque Petrie (Minnesota), Gwyneth Philips (Ottawa), Ally Simpson (New York), Madeline Wethington (Ottawa), and Anna Wilgren (Montreal).

While many of the remaining PWHL players suited up for Team USA at the 2024 World Champions, there are also some new faces on the list, or returning faces from past camps including Abby Roque (New York), Sydney Brodt (Minnesota), Jesse Compher (Toronto), Gabbie Hughes (Ottawa), and Maureen Murphy (Montreal).

Young faces to watch

Among USA's Women's National Festival invitees, there are six players born in 2005, and 18 born in 2004. The 2005 born players include Annelies Bergmann, Cassie Hall, Ellah Hause, Molly Jordan, Sammy Taber, and 2024 national team member Joy Dunne. The 2004 group features many familiar faces like national team members Laila Edwards, Tessa Janecke, Kirsten Simms, and Sydney Morrow, and players who have advanced though the U-18 national program or were on last year's Collegiate Series roster like Elyssa Biederman, Grace Dwyer, Emma Peschel, and Laney Potter, but there are also exciting newcomers joining the group.

Looking at the U-18 roster

There's a group of players eligible to return to USA's U-18 World Championship roster from last year's gold medal winning team including Ellie Dimatos, Megan Healy, Taylor Senecal, Rachel Gorbatenko, Maggie Averill, Caroline Averill, Haley Box, Mary Derrenbacher, Bella Fanale, Macy Rasmussen, and Natalia Dilbone. This camp is a first chance to get a glimpse of the next wave of national team prospects, NCAA stars, and future PWHL picks against elite competition.

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