MEMBERTOU/SYDNEY: Team Canada’s women’s U18 hockey team begins play at the U18 Women’s World Hockey Championship today Jan. 10 in Membertou.
The Maple Leaf team has two Nova Scotians on their roster for the Cape Breton and Nova Scotia fans to cheer on, Kendall Doiron and Jaylee MacKinnon.
Three goaltenders, eight defence and 14 forwards were selected by Cherie Piper (Scarborough, ON), senior manager of player development and scouting, along with head coach Vicky Sunohara (Scarborough, ON/University of Toronto, OUA) and assistant coaches Marc-André Côté (Montreal, QC/University of Moncton, AUS) and Amanda Benoit-Wark (Welland, ON/Ridley College, OWHA U22 Elite).
Goaltending coach Sheldon Goertzen (Saskatoon, SK/University of Saskatchewan, CW) also provided input, in addition to seven regional scouts.
Among those named to the roster are Boylston’s Kendall Doiron and Clark’s Harbour’s Jaylee MacKinnon.
Doiron (5-3-8 in 6 GP) was the Top Forward Award at U18 Women’s Nationals in Newfoundland and Labrador in November where MacKinnon had two goals and four assists in six games for Atlantic.
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Included among the 25 players are nine who won gold at the 2025 U18 Women’s Worlds (Ismael, Korte, Leprohon, McCullough, McDonald, Piggott, Caileigh Tiller, Tremblay, Viel) and 21 who wore the Maple Leaf during a three-game series against the United States in August (Charrois, Doiron, Houweling, Hughson, Ismael, Jones, Korte, Leprohon, MacKinnon, Maechtel, Matt, McCullough, McDonald, Mossey, Milani, Piggott, Sisson, Caileigh Tiller, Chelsea Tiller, Tremblay, Viel).
“The coaching staff is incredibly excited to work with this committed group of young athletes. We will continue to build on the qualities we feel necessary to be successful on the international stage,” Sunohara said.
“With a strong mix of returning veterans and new additions, we have a team ready to represent Canada with pride as we prepare to compete for gold on home ice.”
Canada is in Group A with Hungary, Sweden and Switzerland, while Group B includes Czechia, Finland, Slovakia and the United States.
Canada opens the tournament against Switzerland on Jan. 10 at 8:30 p.m. AT and will face Hungary on Jan. 12 at 6 p.m. AT before its preliminary-round finale against Sweden on Jan. 13 at 5 p.m. AT.
Schedule can be found here: https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/team-canada/women/under-18/2025-26/world-championship/stats/schedule
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Piper said they are incredibly proud of all 25 athletes named to Canada’s National Under-18 Women’s Team for the upcoming world championship.
“These players represent the immense talent in Canada and are the building blocks for Canada’s National Women’s Team,” she said.
“We are confident in this group’s ability to represent Canada with our goal of defending gold in Cape Breton in January.”
Canada will look capture back-to-back gold medals at the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship for the first time since 2022 and 2023; it has won eight gold medals (2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2025), seven silver (2008, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020) and two bronze (2018, 2024).
TSN and RDS, the official broadcast partners of Hockey Canada, will provide exclusive live coverage of the 2026 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship, delivering all Team Canada games, in addition to both semifinals and medal games.
Please check local listings for details.
Fans looking to secure their seats and SEE THEE RISE can purchase medal-round ticket packages and single-game tickets at HockeyCanada.ca/Tickets.
