Sorry, but it looks like the U of O's Colin Timm answered his own question during the obligatory local story about the NCAA's vote to let Canadian schools apply for membership."For us, we're strong supporters of keeping it in Canada," Timm told the Ottawa Citizen. "It always comes up, but we talk about it in terms of, 'How do we find a way to keep Ottawa talent here, especially the females?' "
Well, perhaps there will come a day when the two Ottawa schools can convince their women's hockey talent home. There are almost enough players from the region playing in the NCAA to stock an entire team, or at least raise the talent level of two separate programs:
FORWARDS
Brooke Beazer (Elginburg): Clarkson senior is alternate captain
Melissa Boal (Pakenham): Wayne State junior is NCAA's third-leading scorer
Jennifer Chaisson (Cumberland): Freshman getting regular ice time for No. 8 UConn
Brianna Delaney (Stittsville): Committed to Robert Morris for next season
Lindsay DiPietro (Ottawa): Wayne State junior is NCAA's fifth-leading scorer
Chelsea Grills (Stittsville): St. Lawrence senior (her team is No. 7 in the NCAA) is 14th in scoring
Farren Hart (Perth): Senior captain at perennial D-3 powerhouse Elmira (N.Y.) College;
Jaclyn Hawkins (Manotick): UConn senior is 16th in scoring
Nicole McDonald (Ottawa): Rensselaer junior is 8 G-3 A-11 PT in 20 games this season
Dominique Thibault (L'Orignal): UConn sophomore, tied for ninth in NCAA scoring, played for Canada in recent European Air Canada Cup.
DEFENDERS
Shannon Bellefeuille (Ottawa): Member of winning Team Ontario Red at under-18 nationals; playing for Vermont next season
Sami Evelyn (Nepean): Member of winning Team Ontario Red at under-18 nationals; committed to UConn for next season
Marlee Fisher (Kingston): Committed to Wayne State for next season
Tiffany Hart (Perth): Sophomore at Elmira
Christine Jefferson (Nepean): Sophomore at Wayne State
Kimberly McKenney (Smiths Falls): Junior at Clarkson, which is 14-5-3 this season
GOALTENDERS
Genny Ladiges (Almonte): Playing at Yale next season
Brittany Wilson (Nepean): 9-3-3 this season for No. 8 UConn
Elayna Hamashuk (Nepean): Colgate junior
(If there's anyone else, please, let me know.) Obviously this is superficial and there's no way of knowing if any individual would stay close to home if money and calibre of competition was no object. But this is a survey of who's out there.
Related:
NCAA doesn't find any takers in Ottawa (Ottawa Citizen)
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1 comment:
Women's hockey is one of the better cases in point, but this story is repeated across most Canadian sports. For example, look at soccer where the NCAA features both past (Christine Sinclair) and present (O'Brien White) MVPs from north of the 49th parallel, in addition to other talented prospects like Carl Brittner. I don't see this changing any time soon, as American schools are larger and generally seen as more prestigous. If Canadian schools do join the NCAA, I think that could help in retaining talent: in many sports, the NCAA's calibre is far above that of the CIS. Full (tuition + room and board) scholarships like they offer in the NCAA would also help considerably.
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