As the four time defending Olympic gold medal Canadian national women's trains in Calgary this month, the names of those not there are as notable as those who are.
Veteran defender Tessa Bonhomme has hung up her blades to pursue television opportunities. She will be a host and reporter for TSN this season.
Meghan Agosta, Canada’s top scorer and tournament MVP at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver (9 goals, 15 points in 5 games), has paused her hockey career to become a police officer, though the 27 year old vows to be back for the 2018 Olympics in Korea.
Those two aren't the only ones absent from camp. Five-time Olympians veterans Hayley Wickenheiser and Jayna Hefford, captain Caroline Ouellette, Gillian Apps, Meaghan Mikkelson and goaltenders Shannon Szabados and Charline Labonte will not attend.
“None of those veterans needed to come to a September camp,” coach Melody Davidson said. “They’ve been to a lot of September camps.”
“We want to see what we have in terms of the future,” Davidson continued “We wanted a nice mix of people who have experience, who have been at the Olympics, so we have the standard where we wanted it.
Jayna Hefford is as big a legend as any female hockey player, but at age 37 she knows the end is near. She hasn't ruled out trying to play through to the next Olympics, but 2018 is a long ways away. She also now has a family and a young daughter.
“I’m really just trying to find out what I want to do, taking into consideration a lot of things whether that’s my age, my family, my level of motivation, what am I going to do after hockey?” Hefford said. “There’s a lot of things to consider as an amateur athlete that maybe don’t enter into a pro athlete’s decision.”
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