WHKY | Colarossi, McCann and Weber to Represent Canada
In early March, the Laurentian Voyageurs women’s hockey program will be well represented at the 2019 Winter Universiade, set for Mar. 2 – Mar. 12 in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. The 121 Canadians attending the Universiade includes 87 student-athletes and 34 mission and support staff in six sports – biathlon, cross country skiing, alpine skiing, snowboard, along with men’s and women’s teams in the U SPORTS championship offerings of hockey and curling.
For the Voyageurs’ part, head coach Stacey Colarossi will step behind the bench as the team’s head coach where she will be joined by Mount Allison head coach, Terry Rhindress, uOttawa assistant coach, Chelsea Grills, and uOttawa assistant coach, Greg Bowles, all serving as assistant coaches. Colarossi will have some familiarity when she looks down the bench as well as a pair of Voyageurs, Morgan McCann and Taylor Weber, were named to the squad.
For Colarossi, this is not her first foray representing Canada in this role. For the past two summers, Colarossi has been head coach of the U SPORTS All-Stars at the Hockey Canada development camp. This past summer she led the All-Stars to a tournament title over Team Japan and a pair of Hockey Canada development teams. Colarossi also has Universiade experience, serving as an assistant coach on the gold medal-winning team Canada in Turkey in 2011.
Colarossi is excited to once again showcase the best that Canadian university women’s hockey has to offer. “We have worked diligently to put together a group of student-athletes who we feel will positively represent all conferences across the country. Our staff and I are looking forward to representing U SPORTS and Canadian university hockey.”
For McCann and Weber, this is their first opportunity to pull the red and white Maple Leaf over their shoulder pads and they couldn’t be more excited.
“This is going to be an experience of a lifetime,” said Weber. I can’t believe that I get to wear the Canadian jersey! It’s a childhood dream come true. I am feeling very grateful for this opportunity and I can’t think of a more perfect way to end U SPORTS career!”
McCann also reflected on how she got to this point. “It’s an honour to be selected to represent Laurentian and Team Canada at the 2019 FISU Games. I definitely would not have had this opportunity without the help of my parents, teammates, coaches and trainers throughout my career. I’m excited to get over to Russia and get started with the team!”
Colarossi, McCann, Weber and crew will take their first hopeful steps to a gold medal on Mar. 1st when they face off against China at 4pm local time (4am EST). Their remaining schedule includes Japan on Mar. 3rd (12:30am EST), the USA on Mar. 4th (12:30am EST), Switzerland on Mar. 6th (4am EST) and Russia on Mar. 8th (7:30am EST). The tournament concludes with the semis on Mar. 10th before wrapping up with the bronze and gold medal games on Mar. 11th.