2011 WU Update: USA Announces Men’s and Women’s Ice Hockey Squad

COLORADO SPRINGS – USA Hockey announced the 22-player U.S. for its Men’s and Women’s National University Team roster, as well as six alternates for each squad, for the upcoming 2011 Winter Universiade that will take place Jan. 27-Feb. 6 in Erzurum, Turkey. This marks the first time that the U.S. will be sending a women’s team to the biannual event.

The U.S. teams are comprised of players from collegiate ice hockey teams affiliated with the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and were selected following the USA Hockey Winter World University Games Evaluation Camp Aug. 6-8 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

“It’s pretty exciting to be a part of the first U.S. women’s team at this event,” said Mo Stroemel, head coach of the U.S. Women’s National University Team. “I think our expectations after the tryout are pretty high. We have a diverse group of players who create synergy as a team.”

 Seven seniors highlight the U.S. roster, including defensemen Shea Crawford (Selbyville, Del./Lindenwood University) and Christina Young (Stafford, Va./Michigan State Univ.); forwards Tiffany Juha (Cape Coral, Fla./California University of Pennsylvania), Emily Nelson (Ann Arbor, Mich./University of Michigan), Terra Payne (Gaylord, Mich./Michigan State University) and Ashley Rumsey (West Olive, Mich./Grand Valley State University); and goaltender Heather Rossi (Kunkletown, Pa./Penn State University).

Eleven different states are represented on the U.S. roster, with seven players coming from Michigan. Other states represented include Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia … Lindenwood University leads all schools with five representatives, while Michigan State University and Penn State University each have four players on the U.S. roster and Grand Valley State University and Robert Morris University Illinois have three.

Mo Stroemel (State College, Pa.), who is beginning his fourth season as head coach of the Penn State University Lady Icers, will serve as head coach of the 2011 U.S. Women’s National University Team. Vince O’Mara (St. Louis, Mo.), head coach of the Lindenwood University women’s ice hockey team, and Cory Whitaker (Caldedonia, Mich.), head coach of the Grand Valley State University women’s ice hockey team, will serve as assistant coaches for Team USA.

“I really like the team that we’ve put together,” said Dave Debol, head coach of the U.S. Men’s National University Team. “We’ve got a lot of good size and speed up front, and there are a lot of guys who know how to put the puck in the net.”

Highlighting the U.S. roster for the biannual event are defenseman Dan Lassik (Garnet Valley, Pa./Univ. of Rhode Island) and forwards Daryl Dee (Garland, Texas/Univ. of Oklahoma) and Kyle Krannich (Mendham, N.J.), all of whom competed for Team USA at the 2009 Winter World University Games in Harbin, China.

Ten different states are represented on the U.S. roster, including Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Washington. The University of Rhode Island leads all schools with four representatives, while Adrian College, Lindenwood University, Oakland University, Penn State University and the University of Oklahoma each have two players on the U.S. roster.

Dave Debol, head coach at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, will serve as head coach of the 2011 U.S. Men’s National University Team after having served as an assistant coach for the squad in 2007 and 2009 ... Scott Balboni, head men’s ice hockey coach at Penn State University, and Dan Phelps, head men’s ice hockey coach at Adrian (Mich.) College, will serve as assistant coaches for Team USA.

(Source: USA Hockey)