Less than two months is all that separated Toronto Sceptres forward Hannah Miller from playing her first game with the Canadian senior national team.
After a standout season with the Sceptres where she scored 24 points in 26 games, the 29-year-old Miller was named to the Canadian roster that will play for a world championship in the Czech Republic.
But the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) deemed the forward from North Vancouver, B.C., ineligible earlier this week. Toronto forward Julia Gosling was named in her place.
Miller competed for China at the 2022 Olympics but hadn’t given up her Canadian citizenship to do so. There’s a two-year waiting period that Hockey Canada thought Miller had satisfied, based on when she played for China at the Olympics.
But according to Canadian GM Gina Kingsbury, the issue was a contract Miller signed with the Shenzhen KRS club team, which falls under the umbrella of the Chinese national team. That contract ended on May 31, 2023, which means the Chinese federation still owns Miller’s rights until May 31 of this year — just over a month after the world championship ends.
“Rules are rules and it’s pretty black and white,” Kingsbury told CBC Sports from the Czech Republic, where her team begins play on Thursday. “Very disappointing obviously from a program perspective, but also disappointed for her.”
Miller earned a spot based on her versatility. Her ability to play centre or wing, to kill penalties and chip in on the power play, was something that appealed to Hockey Canada.
She earned gold for Canada at back-to-back under-18 world championships, but it’s rare for a player to make the senior team later in their career. That is changing now that the PWHL has become the top evaluation tool.
League games are on par with international competition, which gives GMs like Kingsbury a good sense of how a player might fare on Team Canada. It means players who don’t make the national team out of college still have a chance to develop and prove they belong.
“I think you’re going to see more and more mature athletes coming onboard to our roster,” Kingsbury said.
The tournament begins Wednesday in České Budějovice, a city near the Czech Republic’s southern border with Austria. Canada begins its defence of its world championship on Thursday against Finland (1 p.m. ET). The gold-medal game is set for April 20.
Here’s a closer look at the Canadian team, which features several new faces.
Gardiner, Watts played their way on to Team Canada
The forward group, as always, will be led by captain Marie-Philip Poulin. She led the Montreal Victoire to a playoff spot, leading the league in goals scored (17) along the way.
She is one of 12 forwards to return from the group that beat the Americans for gold last year. That includes several other veterans, including Brianne Jenner (Ottawa), Natalie Spooner (Toronto), Sarah Nurse (Toronto), Laura Stacey (Montreal), Blayre Turnbull (Toronto) and Emily Clark (Ottawa).
They’ll be joined by younger players like 24-year-old Sarah Fillier (New York), 23-year-old Danielle Serdachny (Ottawa) and 24-year-old Gosling (Toronto) who will be the future of this team for years to come.
Poulin could find herself playing with her Montreal linemate, Jennifer Gardiner, who has made her first senior world championship team. The 23-year-old from Surrey, B.C., was an alternate for last year’s team, and played well in an exhibition game against Finland last year. Then, she scored the series-clinching goal for Canada at the Rivalry Series in February.
“She’s fast,” Poulin told CBC Sports in February. “She sees the game and she has such a great shot. We’re very lucky to have her in Montreal.”
Her chemistry with Poulin likely didn’t hurt Gardiner’s case. Head coach Troy Ryan can plug and play a dangerous top line of Gardiner, Poulin and Stacey.
But no one made the team solely based on their ability to play with someone else, Kingsbury said.
“We had always somewhat circled her as one of the next ones up,” the GM said. “Her play all season long in the PWHL showed that she’s ready for the challenge of playing on the international stage.”
Toronto’s Daryl Watts will also make her senior national team debut after a fantastic first season in blue and yellow. She trails only Fillier and American Hilary Knight in points across the league, and will add more playmaking to Canada’s top six.
A battle on the blue line
Defence may be the most interesting position to watch as Canada works toward naming its Olympic roster. With an expanded roster size at worlds (25, compared to 23 at the Olympics), Canada was able to bring eight defenders to worlds.
Kingsbury compared it to building a puzzle. The team needs offensive defenders and more defensive, shutdown options to balance things out.
“We’ve got a lot to choose from,” she said. “Probably a good problem to have, but challenging if you’re a D trying to make our roster because we do have some substantial defenders in our country.”
Returning from last year’s team is Renata Fast (Toronto), Erin Ambrose (Montreal) and Ella Shelton (New York), all of whom are likely to go to Italy in 2026. Veteran Jocelyne Larocque (Ottawa) also returns for her 12th world championship.
Claire Thompson (Minnesota) is back in the picture after time away attending medical school, and hasn’t seemed to miss a beat. She set a new Olympic record for points by a defender in 2022, and could easily be reunited with her defence partner from that tournament, Ambrose.
New York Sirens captain Micah Zandee-Hart is back after a tough, injury-impacted first PWHL season last year.
But the most intriguing additions to this roster are Sophie Jaques (Minnesota) and 18-year-old Chloe Primerano (University of Minnesota).
Jaques played a huge role in Minnesota’s Walter Cup win last season and can anchor a power play, though she’d have to edge out quarterbacks like Fast and Ambrose to get an opportunity there. She sits second behind Fast in points by a defender this season in the PWHL.
Primerano, meanwhile, is the youngest player to make Canada’s senior team at worlds since Poulin. On top of playing in the NCAA a year early this season, Primerano captained Canada’s under-18 team to gold and scored a shootout game winner for the senior national team at the Rivalry Series.
It was that maturity at the under-18 level, and her ability to come in to the senior team and perform under bright lights, that convinced the Canadian brass that she’s ready.
“I’m very impressed with what I see, and I think her game is just going to keep growing,” Larocque said about her younger teammate in February. “She’s so young and she works so hard and she’s humble, and I think she fits with this group really well.”
The world championship will be a bigger opportunity and stage for Primerano to show she’s ready to play at the highest level. The prize at the end could be a trip to her first Olympics.
Desbiens expected to play
Canadian starting goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens is on the long-term injured reserve in the PWHL after leaving a Montreal Victoire game with an injury last month. Evaluating her health stretched out the process for Hockey Canada to name its roster, as they waited to see if Desbiens would be available.
But Desbiens is in the Czech Republic and is expected to play at worlds. When she could play has yet to be determined.
“She’s done very well in her progression and her health is definitely going in the right direction,” Kingsbury said. “We would never bring an athlete, especially in the goaltending world where we only have three athletes, that wouldn’t be able to just jump in and play.”
Ottawa starter Emerance Maschmeyer, who was also hurt in March, will miss the tournament. It could mean more starts for Toronto’s Kristen Campbell, who has been in the third-goaltender role for Canada over the last few years. Campbell has had an up-and-down season with the Sceptres but has trended up as of late, as Toronto has surged up the standings.
Rounding out the goaltending trio is 21-year-old Ève Gascon, who impressed Hockey Canada with the development team at the Six Nations tournament, where she had to compete against several members of the American senior national team.
The goaltender from Terrebonne, Que., who plays at the University of Minnesota Duluth, was targeted as a future goalie in the Canadian program in part because of her high hockey IQ.
“Another case of someone that completely earned it,” Kingsbury said. “This is not us investing in the future or us giving a gift to someone as a member of our team. She’s earned the right to represent our country.”
