Hockey Canada announced on Wednesday that four players from the Boston University women’s hockey team have been named to Canada’s women’s national team for the 2011 International Ice Hockey Federation World Women’s Championship. The tournament will be held in Switzerland in mid-April.
The players – graduate student defenseman Catherine Ward, junior forward Jenn Wakefield, junior defenseman Tara Watchorn and freshman forward Marie-Philip Poulin – were crucial in the Terriers’ campaign to their first NCAA finals this season.
During her only season with the Terriers, Ward set the BU single-season record for assists with 27 and scored four goals. The Montreal, Quebec native, who was a part of the gold-medal winning Canadian Olympic team in 2010, was also named the Best Defenseman in Hockey East.
Also in her first season at BU, Wakefield, a transfer from University of New Hampshire, matched a career high with 32 goals, which broke the BU single-season record.
Wakefield had a career-high 22 assists and 54 points on the season and was named to the HE First Team.
Watchorn, who debuted with the national team at the Four Nations Cup in November, had a career-high 25 points on the season and matched a personal-best six goals.
Her 25 points led all defensemen in HE and her .081 points per game was ranked seventh among defensemen in the nation.
Poulin, who had a breakout freshman season after scoring both goals in the Olympic team’s gold-medal win last February, scored 24 goals and had 47 points despite missing 6 games with a fractured hand.
She also missed time early in the year to play for Canada in the Four Nations Cup.
Poulin was named the HE Rookie of the Year and was unanimously named to the HE All-Rookie Team.
She scored BU’s only goal in the national championship game, a 4-1 loss against No. 1 University of Wisconsin. At 19, she is the youngest player on Team Canada.
The Terriers have more representatives than any other college on the Canadian national team, which is looking for its first gold medal since 2007 and 10th gold overall.
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