By Hockey Canada

VICTORIA, B.C. – Hockey Canada has announced that Hayley Wickenheiser (Shaunavon, SK/Calgary, WWHL) has been named captain of Canada’s National Women’s Team, which will compete at the 2008 IIHF World Women’s Championship in Harbin, China.

Wickenheiser returns as team captain for the second-straight year, helping lead Canada to gold at the 2007 IIHF World Women’s Championship in Manitoba.

Peter Smith, head coach of the National Women’s Team for 2007-08, says Wickenheiser was a natural choice as captain of this team.

“The players and staff have the utmost respect for Hayley,” says Smith. “We believe in her leadership and it will be a big part of any success this team has at the world championship.”

Canada’s all-time captains at World Championships and Olympic Games

• 2007-present Hayley Wickenheiser

• 2001-2006 Cassie Campbell

• 1999-2000 Therese Brisson

• 1994-1998 Stacy Wilson

• 1992 France St-Louis

• 1990 Sue Scherer

Smith also announced that Becky Kellar (Hagersville, ON/Burlington, CWHL) and Caroline Ouellette (Montreal, QC/Minnesota, WWHL) will serve as alternate captains.

Canada’s National Women’s Team will open the 2008 IIHF World Women’s Championship on April 4th versus Russia.

The 2008 IIHF World Women’s Championship, being held in Harbin, China from April 4-12, is a nine-team tournament, featuring three pools. Canada is in Pool A with China and Russia, while Pool B features Germany, Switzerland and the USA and Pool C is made up of Finland, Japan and Sweden.

Canada faces Sweden in exhibition action on April 2nd.

The teams will play a round-robin within their pools and the top teams from each pool will move on to the qualifying round. Canada’s round-robin games are against Russia on April 4th and China on April 6th. Another round-robin will be held during the qualifying round, with the top two teams moving on to the gold medal game on April 12th. TSN/RDS, Hockey Canada’s official broadcasters, will televise Canada’s final three games, on April 9th at 12:05 a.m. ET (10:05 p.m. MT, 9:05 p.m. PST), April 10th at 12:05 a.m. ET (10:05 p.m. MT, 9:05 p.m. PST) and April 12th. The broadcast on April 12th will depend on whether Canada is in the gold or bronze medal game

Media enquiries for Canada’s players and staff during the 2008 IIHF World Women’s Championship should be directed to Chris Jurewicz, who will be with the team in China. He can be reached via e-mail at  cjurewicz@hockeycanada.ca 

Please note that the time in Harbin, China is 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, 14 hours ahead of MST and 15 hours ahead of PST.Requests for interviews should be made well in advance to ensure the requests can be met.

Canada’s National Women’s Team will attempt to win its second-straight IIHF World Women’s Championship, after claiming the 2007 title in Winnipeg, MB. Canada is also trying to win its 10th world championship since the event began in 1990. Canada leads the world with nine gold medals and one silver medal. TSN/ RDS will be broadcasting Canada’s qualifying round and medal games, beginning on April 9th (time to be determined by preliminary round placing; check local listings for specific broadcast times).