Newfoundland’s Shailynn Snow will be spending some of her January in Japan.
The 17-year-old from Bay Roberts has been named to Canada’s team for the IIHF world under-18 women’s hockey championship to be held Jan. 6-13 in Obihiro, Japan.
Snow, who is captain of the women’s varsity team at Ridley College in St. Catharines, Ont., is among 23 players — three goaltenders, seven on defence and 13 forwards — on the Canadian roster. There will be plenty of familiarity since 21 of them — Snow included — competed as part of the Canadian U18s in a three-game series against the United States in Calgary in August.
Snow also took part in the selection camp for the team, scoring two goals and adding two assists in three intra-squad games.
The five-foot-three, 149-pound forward first made herself known nationally at the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George, B.C., where she had eight goals and 13 points in six games for Team Newfoundland and Labrador. She also took part in the 2017 national women’s U18 championship as part of Team Atlantic.
The national U18 player selections were made by Gina Kingsbury, Hockey Canada’s director of women’s national teams, alongside Melody Davidson, Hockey Canada’s head scout for women’s national teams, and the U18 team’s coaching staff, led by head coach Howie Draper of Edmonton and the University of Alberta.
Canada will open its schedule in Japan against Sweden on Jan. 5 and also play the defending champion United States and Russia in the preliminary round on Jan. 7 and 8, respectively. The tournament wraps up with the gold-medal game on Jan. 13.
The Canadians have won gold at the event four times, but have had runner-up finishes the last three years.
Twitter: @telybrendan
