The 2009–10 women's national hockey team will represent Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Prior to the games, the national team will participate in various tournaments during the 2009–10 season. The team will attempt to win the gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics. The head coach is Melody Davidson, and she is assisted by former Vancouver Canucks player Doug Lidster and Peter Smith.
Various members of the national team are featured in the 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Hockey Card set, distributed by Upper Deck. The checklist is as follows:
January 1: Jayna Hefford scored the only goal in the shootout goal (Charline Labonté stopped all three American shooters) as Canada beat the U.S. by a score of 3-2. Before the match, Hefford was honoured for reaching the 200-game plateau in November. The game was played in front of 16,347 fans at Scotiabank Place. It was the largest Canadian crowd to watch a women's hockey game, surpassing the previous mark of 15,163 set Jan. 26, 1998 at the Calgary Saddledome.
The Canadian national team participated in a three-game series against the Canadian under-22 national team. All games were played at the Father David Bauer Olympic Arena in Calgary, Alberta.
Red and White Games
The national team competes in intersquad games in Calgary. One team dons red jerseys, while the other team wears white jerseys.
Jayna Hefford has scored 19 goals in 20 games versus boys' midget AAA teams during this pre-Olympic season.
All games were held at Father David Bauer Arena in Calgary.
All games were held at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia.
All games to be held in Finland.
December 21: Head coach Melody Davidson, head coach of Canada's women's Olympic hockey team, made final cuts to her roster, in preparation for the Olympic Games. The players that were cut included Gillian Ferrari, Jennifer Wakefield, Delaney Collins, Brianne Jenner and Jocelyne Larocque.
Marie-Philip Poulin is the youngest player on the 2010 Olympic team.
The following played for Team Canada prior to December 21.
Stats are as of October 2, 2009.
Szabados has faced 116 shots in five games. St-Pierre has faced 85 shots in four games.
September 3, 2009, was goalie Shannon Szabados' first loss (2-4 versus US). Up to that point, her record was 9-0.
In the first three games, Canada took their goal total at the 2010 Games to 41 in three matches.
February 14: Canada defeated Slovakia by a record-setting score of 18-0 in their opening game of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games on Saturday. Jayna Hefford and Meghan Agosta scored three goals each for Canada who set a record for the most lopsided win women's Olympic hockey tournament history. Canada also held the previous record for the biggest blowout, a 16-0 demolition of host Italy at the Torino 2006 Olympic Games. Hefford finished with a game-high six points in front of a crowd of 16,496 at the Canada Hockey Place arena. Slovakia was making their first appearance in the women's tournament as they were promoted to the top level after winning the qualifying event. Slovakia was outshot 67-9.International ice hockey chief René Fasel defended the inclusion of women's hockey in the Olympic Games Sunday by stating one-sided blowouts like Canada's 18-0 thrashing of Slovakia were once a part of the men's game. The IIHF president also said hockey fans are going to have to get used to the disparity between superpowers Canada and the US and the rest of the Olympic field until they can develop more female players in non-traditional hockey-playing countries. The Canadian women said they never thought twice Saturday about not running up the score against lowly Slovakia doesn't help their cause. In fact, some players stated they were giving Slovakia a taste of its own medicine as the Slovaks qualification to the Olympics included an 82-0 thumping of hockey newcomer Bulgaria.
On February 17, Hayley Wickenheiser became the all-time leading Olympic goal scorer as Canada defeated Sweden 13-1. Wickenheiser reached her record total of 16 career Olympic goals by scoring once on Wednesday as Canada followed up their 18-0 win over Slovakia and 10-1 defeat of Switzerland. In addition, Meghan Agosta scored a record third Olympic hat-trick in the match against Sweden to move on to eight goals in this tournament, equalling Danielle Goyette's record for most goals in one Olympic tournament, set in 1998.
The head coach of the under-22 team was Margot Page. She was assisted by Jim Fetter of Wayne State University and Stephanie White of Ryerson University.
January 10: Vicki Bendus scored a goal and added two assists for the Canadian national women's under-22 team in the gold medal game of the 2010 MLP Cup. Canada defeated Switzerland, 9-0 in Ravensburg, Germany. The Canadian team won all four of their games by a combined score of 24-4, and secured their seventh goal medal in the past eight years. In three games, Bendus, Jesse Scanzano and Bailey Bram (from the Mercyhurst Lakers women's ice hockey team) combined for seven goals and 18 points. Benuds and Bram were tied for the tournament lead in scoring, and Bendus was named the tournament's top forward.
March 1: Hockey Canada announced its roster for the team competing at the third ever IIHF Under 18 Women's World Championships. The head coach is Dan Church and he is assisted by Pierre Alain and Lisa Jordan. The roster includes six players who took part in the 2009 IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championship:
Jessica Campbell
Christine Bestland
Mélodie Daoust
Laurie Kingsbury
Jamie Lee Rattray
Brigette Lacquette
Jillian Saulnier
Awards and honors
Olympic Team
Media All-Star Team
G – Shannon Szabados
F – Meghan Agosta
F – Marie-Philip Poulin
Olympic MVP – Meghan Agosta (CAN)
Directorate Awards
Best Goalkeeper: Shannon Szabados
Best Forward: Meghan Agosta
Under-22 team
Vicki Bendus, Top Forward, 2010 MLP Cup
Under-18 team
Jessica Campbell, Tournament MVP
Brigette Lacquette was named Best Defenceman by the Directorate
