Happy Friday! Melissa Burgess from The Ice Garden here, as we prepare for a very busy time in women’s hockey. The IIHF Women’s World Championships are right around the corner, and we’ll be bringing you news and notes on all the action, including team-by-team previews next week!
Team USA is looking to continue its winning ways, having won Olympic gold earlier this year and gold at last year’s Worlds. The Americans fell to Canada 5-3 in Wednesday’s first pre-tournament game. The teams will face off one more time on Friday night. Final rosters for Worlds can have a maximum of 25 players, so Team USA has several cuts to make before locking in.
Technically, anyone on the roster could be cut. Realistically, there are some players that you just know will make it, so long as they’re healthy. Let’s be real, no one’s cutting Hilary Knight or Caroline Harvey from this roster. For the rest, it’s not just about finding the best players, but those who are the right fit.
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Goaltending
Pretty much a lock: Aerin Frankel & Gwyneth Philips
Decision: Pick one of Ava McNaughton or Callie Shanahan
You only need to carry three netminders. I tend to think USA Hockey will stick with McNaughton, who was on both the Olympic team and Worlds roster last year. She has historically been Team USA’s third goaltender, and it’s likely she fills that spot again. She played just 1:48 in one Olympic game and 28:56 in one Worlds game last year. This year, she’s appeared in seven NCAA games with Wisconsin and has a 1.88 GAA and .929 save percentage.
For Shanahan, the PWHL season hasn’t started yet but last year she appeared in four games with the New York Sirens. She had a 3.02 GAA and .871 save percentage.
My choice: McNaughton
Defense
Pretty much a lock: Lee Stecklein, Cayla Barnes, Caroline Harvey, Megan Keller, Haley Winn and Laila Edwards
Decision: Pick 2-3 from the following: Rory Guilday, Emma Peschel, Sydney Morrow, and Laney Potter
For me, Guilday is nearly a lock. Of the players on the cusp here, she’s the only one who was on the Olympic team. She was one of the last healthy cuts from last year’s Worlds roster. Guilday skated in 30 games with the Ottawa Charge last season and added 9 points.
That leaves three more defensive options, all of whom are fresh blood for the senior women’s national team. All three previously played for Team USA at U18s, and all three have decent offensive upsides. Peschel had 39 points in 34 games and captained Ohio State last season before being drafted by the Sirens. Morrow averaged nearly a point-per-game with Minnesota and is set to join the Seattle Torrent. Potter is in her fourth season at Wisconsin and already has 11 points in eight games.
You really can’t go wrong with any of the three.
My choices: Guilday, Peschel and Potter
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Forwards
Pretty much a lock: Hayley Scamurra, Hilary Knight, Tessa Janecke, Kelly Pannek, Alex Carpenter, Taylor Fox and Abbey Murphy
Decision: Pick 5-7 from the following: Kirsten Simms, Casey O’Brien, Joy Dunne, Hannah Bilka, Sloane Matthews, Lacey Eden, Grace Zumwinkle, Britta Curl-Salemme, Jesse Compher
With my aforementioned picks, we’ve got six roster spots left to fill out the forward group. (Kendall Coyne Schofield was named to the team’s camp, was scratched Wednesday and announced on Thursday that she is expecting her second child. Otherwise, she would’ve been a lock for the roster.)
My top choices: Simms, O’Brien, Dunne, Bilka & Matthews
That leaves Eden, Zumwinkle, Curl-Salemme and Compher as the final cuts up front. Of those, Curl-Salemme is the only one who was on the Olympic roster. Her offense is certainly there, but the physical side of her play sometimes borders on risky.
Eden, Zumwinkle and Compher all played at the 2025 Worlds but didn’t make the Olympic team. Instead, I’m slotting in O’Brien and Matthews here for the last spots. O’Brien had a good season last year despite being on a struggling Sirens squad, with 22 points in 28 games, including 15 assists. She’s a proven playmaker. In her final season at Ohio State, Matthews had 44 points in 41 games, split pretty evenly between goals and assists. You can’t ignore that kind of production!
Since Curl-Salemme was on the Olympic roster, she’s likely slotting into the final forward spot here. She was scratched Wednesday against Canada, but that was likely more to give others an opportunity than any sort of statement against her play. Otherwise, I’d go with Eden, as she seems to always be right on the cusp.
Final thoughts
The final roster is projected to be announced on Saturday, so we’ll know how things fall very soon. Until then, tune in on Friday night for another pre-tournament matchup against Canada. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan. Worlds start Nov. 6, with Team USA facing off against Switzerland to kick things off.
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