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Hilary Knight has been selected to join the U.S. women’s hockey team for the 14th World Championship, and Olympic captain Kendall Coyne Schofield is returning to the world for the first time as a mother.
us directory The world championship, to be held April 3-14 in Utica, New York, was named Sunday after the four-day evaluation camp.
At the world championships last April, Knight scored a hat trick in a 6-3 victory over Canada in the gold medal match.
Before that, Canada defeated the U.S. in three consecutive world finals, at the 2021 and 2022 world championships, then at the 2022 Olympics, and also had a five-game winning streak overall in the rivalry.
At 34, Knight is already the oldest female Olympic hockey player in U.S. history. She will become the oldest American woman to play in a world championship, breaking the record of her idol Cami Granato, who was 34 years old at her last world championship in 2005.
Knight holds the all-time world championship records for points (101), goals (61) and gold medals (9). At these world championships, she could break the tie for most medals (currently 13) held by retired Canadian Hayley Wickenheiser.
Coyne Schofield, 31, is back after missing the 2023 World Championships due to pregnancy leave. She had her son Drew in July.
USA Hockey believes Coyne Schofield will become the second American to return from childbirth to play in a world championship. Jenny Potter competed in the 2002, 2006, and 2010 Olympics as her mother. She competed in the 2007 World Championships less than three months after she gave birth to her second child.
Some athletes returned from childbirth and played for the national team in games other than the Olympics or world championships.
Young players who have emerged in recent years include 21-year-old defender Caroline Harvey, who led last year’s world championships with 14 points, and 24-year-old forward Taylor Heise, who led the tournament with 11 assists.
Goalkeeper Aerin Frankel, who started six of seven games at last year’s world championships, will also return.
A notable absence is forward Amanda Kessel, a three-time Olympic medalist who has not played for club or country this season. Kessel works in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ front office.
Maddie Rooney, the No. 1 goalie on the 2018 Olympic champion team, was not one of the six goalies who attended last week’s evaluation camp.
Rooney was left off the 2023 World Team and was not one of the three goaltenders to play in the seven-game series against Canada from November to February.
Defender Lee Stecklein, who played on every Olympic team and world team until 2013, also did not participate in the evaluation camp. She was asked earlier this month whether she would take a break or retire from her national team, but she did not comment.
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