May 19, 2008

Colorado Springs, Colo. - USA Hockey today announced that Mercyhurst defenseman Geena Prough has made the roster for the Women's Under-22 Camp, set to take place in Lake Placid, N.Y., from June 24-July 1. 34 players will be vying for 22 spots on the 2008 U.S. Women's Under-22 Select Team, which will participate in the USA Hockey Women's National Festival in August, as well as compete against Canada in the Under-22 Series.

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Prough played in all 37 games for the Lakers during her freshman season and was second on the team in defenseman points with 21. She finished with nine goals and 12 assists. Prough was selected to the College Hockey America (CHA) All-Rookie Team. She tied for 9th in the conference in points with nine and tied for 4th with two power play goals. She totaled five multiple-point games last eason and was named CHA Rookie of the Week January 3.

Highlighting the roster are six members of the U.S. Women's National Team that captured the gold medal at the recently completed 2008 International Ice Hockey Federation World Women's Championship. Those six include goaltender Molly Schaus (Natick, Mass./Boston College); defenseman Kacey Bellamy (Westfield, Mass./Univ. of New Hampshire); and forwards Hilary Knight (Hanover, N.H./Univ. of Wisconsin), Erika Lawler (Fitchburg, Mass./Univ. of Wisconsin), Gigi Marvin (Warroad, Minn./Univ. of Minnesota) and Kelli Stack (Brooklyn Heights, Ohio/Boston College).

In addition, four were gold-medal winners with the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team at the first-ever IIHF World Women's U18 Championship in January, including defensemen Anne Schleper (St. Cloud, Minn./Univ. of Minnesota) and Sasha Sherry (Lehighton, Pa./Princeton Univ.); and forwards Kendall Coyne (Palos Heights, Ill./Chicago Mission) and Sarah Erickson (LaPorte, Minn./Univ. of Minnesota).

The athletes will be stationed at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, with all on-ice activities to take place at the Olympic Center.

Jackie Barto (Lewis Center, Ohio), who guided the U.S. Women's National Team to the gold medal at the 2008 IIHF World Women's Championship, is the head coach of the U.S. Women's Under-22 Select Team. Her assistant coaches are Jaime Totten (Mansfield Center, Conn.), assistant women's ice hockey coach at the University of Connecticut, and Steve Sertich (Bemidji, Minn.), head women's ice hockey coach at Bemidji State University. All three will be on hand at the camp, as well as Jodi McKenna (Middletown, Conn.), head women's ice hockey coach at Wesleyan University, and Dave Flint (Merrimack, N.H.), head women's ice hockey coach at Saint Anselm College and goaltending consultant for the U.S. Women's National Program.

NOTES: Brooke Ammerman (River Vale, N.J./Univ. of Wisconsin), Meghan Duggan (Danvers, Mass./Univ. of Wisconsin), Sam Faber (Mt. Sinai, N.Y./Univ. of New Hampshire) and Sarah Parsons (Dover, Mass./Dartmouth College) were invited to the camp, but are unable to attend. They will still be considered for the U.S. Women's Under-22 Select Team. All four were gold-medal winners this year - Duggan, Faber and Parsons at the World Women's Championship and Ammerman at the World Women's U18 Championship. Parsons is the only Olympian in the group ... The 34 roster players hail from a total of 15 states and 17 college programs. The University of Minnesota leads the pack with six camp attendees, while Harvard University has four and Boston College and St. Cloud State University each have three ... Kendall Coyne is the lone player who will not be playing college hockey next season. She will be turning 16 on May 25.