Canada Names Universaide Roster Featuring Top U Sports Athletes

Canada won a dominant gold medal at the 2023 Universaide Games. Their roster that year involved several U Sports players who have gone on to play in the PWHL and other professional leagues in Europe.

This year, U Sports will again send a roster of 21 players to the World University Games (Universaide) in Torino, Italy.

“We are excited to announce the group of student-athletes who will represent Canada at the upcoming 2025 FISU Winter World University Games," said head coach Kelly Paton, who also serves as the head coach for Wilfrid Laurier University's women's hockey team.

"We are incredibly fortunate to build a team from such a high caliber pool of talent within USPORTS, which reflects the strength of women's hockey in Canada. As a staff, we've worked to build a vision that supports a fast, physical style of play and we look forward to seeing these athletes carry that into our team game in Italy. Representing Canada on the international stage is a tremendous honour, and we are confident our group will wear the maple leaf with great pride and passion.”

Among those named to the roster are reigning U Sports MVP and Rookie of the Year Gabrielle Santerre (Bishop’s), as well as 2024 All-Canadians Mackenzie Keenan (New Brunswick), and Émilie Lussier (Concordia).

Two players will also return from the 2023 gold medal winning team including Waterloo's Leah Herrfort, who is expected to enter the 2025 PWHL Draft, and forward Scout Watkins-Southward (Toronto). Herrfort scored a point per game for Canada in 2023, the same year she was named the OUA Player of the Year.

“Being selected to represent Canada and U SPORTS is an incredible honour," Herrfort said in a U Sports news release. "To have the opportunity to do it twice is truly special and something I will never take for granted. I have the opportunity to represent my country alongside 20 very talented athletes and I couldn’t be more excited. Having played in the FISU Games before, I understand what little time we have together as a team and how important it is to make the best of those two weeks."

Joining this group will be Concordia's Jordyn Verbeek, Dalhousie's Grace Beer and Mount Royal's Kaitlyn Ross in net, and defenders Alexandra-Anne Boyer (Concordia), Sophia Gaskell (British Columbia), Abigail MacKenzie (Saint Mary's), Emma Potter (Toronto), and Alex Spence (Mount Royal)

Up front, Canada will seek offense from Madison Desmarais (Nipissing), Malory Dominico (Nipissing), Aliya Jomha (Mount Royal), Emilie Lavoie (Concordia), Jaime Magoffin (Guelph), Sydney Mercier (Calgary), Ekaterina Pelowich (St. Thomas), Erica Plourde (Moncton)

Team Canada will open its schedule on Saturday, January 11 against Chinese Taipei.