It has been something Micah Zandee-Hart of Saanichton has been working toward her entire career, from the Peninsula Minor Hockey Association, to carrying the sa国际传媒 flag into the opening ceremony of the 2015 sa国际传媒 Winter Games.
Zandee-Hart will make her International Ice Hockey Federation women鈥檚 world championship debut for sa国际传媒 in the 2019 tournament April 4-14 in Espoo, Finland. Making the national team for the worlds is a breakthrough for the Islander on the road to eventual selection for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Former Canadian U-18 captain Zandee-Hart is one of seven defencemen selected for the Canadian team for the 2019 IIHF worlds, along with 13 forwards and three goaltenders.
The selection committee comprised of head coach Perry Pearn and Gina Kingsbury, director of women鈥檚 national teams for Hockey sa国际传媒, with support from head scout Melody Davidson and regional scouts.
Zandee-Hart is among six Canadian players making their world championship debuts. The Islander is, however, among the 18 players on the team to the worlds that played on the silver-medallist Canadian team at the 2018 Four Nations Cup in Saskatoon. She also has gold and silver medals, respectively with sa国际传媒 from the 2016 and 2017 Nations Cup tournaments in Germany.
There are 16 players on the squad from sa国际传媒鈥檚 silver-medal team from the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
鈥淲e have recently had two competitive short-term competitions with the Four Nations Cup and Rivalry Series [the latter against the U.S.], where we鈥檝e had a chance to assess and measure ourselves against other top nations,鈥� said Kingsbury, in a statement.
鈥淭he players we have selected have had success at various levels of their careers, both nationally and internationally, and we鈥檙e excited to get started in Finland.鈥�
The five-foot-nine Zandee-Hart, a junior with NCAA fourth-ranked Cornell, became only the second player to be named captain of the Big Red as a sophomore. She was named to the ECAC and Ivy League first all-star teams last season and was a finalist for ECAC defenceman of the year.
The Islander this season has three goals and 19 points with a plus-12 rating in 28 games and was named to the Ivy League second all-star team.
Zandee-Hart, who labels Canadian women鈥檚 national soccer team captain Christine Sinclair as the athlete she most admires, played for the Peninsula boys鈥� rep teams in Atom, Pee Wee and Bantam up to age 15 before going to the Okanagan Hockey Academy.
One of four siblings in the family, Zandee-Hart said she became a blue-liner because older brother Ben Hart played defence for the Peninsula Panthers of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League.
sa国际传媒 opens the 2019 world championship tournament against Switzerland on April 4 and will play the U.S. on April 6, Russia on April 8 and host Finland on April 9 in pool play. The bronze and gold-medal games are scheduled for April 14. All games will be broadcast live on TSN.
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