The team features two players who helped Team USA to a gold-medal finish in 2020 in Danielle Burgen (Lindstrom, Minn.) and Kirsten Simms (Plymouth, Mich.), and includes 13 forwards, seven defenders and three goaltenders.
The roster includes seven players from Minnesota, followed by Michigan and Pennsylvania with three respectively. Eleven different states are represented.
Team USA has won six of the last seven gold medals in the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship, including in 2020 when it beat Canada, 2-1, in overtime in the gold-medal game. The 2021 championship was canceled due to the global pandemic.
NOTES: Joining Lachapelle on the coaching staff are assistant coaches Mel Ruzzi (Princeton, N.J.) and Chelsea Walkland (Hamilton, N.Y.). Ruzzi is head coach of the Brown University women’s hockey team, while Walkland serves as an assistant coach with Colgate University’s women’s hockey program. Alli Altman (Eagan, Minn.) will serve as goaltending coach for the fourth straight year … Kristen Wright (Colorado Springs, Colo.) is the general manager of the U.S. Under-18 Women’s National Team … Team USA took home gold in 2020 when Kiara Zanon (Fairport, N.Y.) lifted the U.S. to a 2-1 overtime victory over Canada … The United States has won gold eight times (2020, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2011, 2009, 2008) and silver on five occasions (2019, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2010).
