Kessel among Gophers selected to US Olympic roster

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia will include some Maroon and Gold amongst the Red, White, and Blue of Team USA’s women’s hockey team. The 25 player roster for the games was announced Monday in Lake Placid, N.Y.

The U.S. Women’s National Team evaluation camp concluded Sunday with nine Golden Gophers either present or alumni represented on the 41 player camp roster. When USA Hockey Senior Director of Communications Dave Fischer made the announcement, he included five of those University of Minnesota women on the squad.

Leading the way for the Gophers is junior forward Amanda Kessel. The nation’s leading scorer from last season helped lead Minnesota to its second straight National Championship and an undefeated 41-0-0 season. Joining Kessel on the USWNT roster are alumni Megan Bozek (Buffalo Grove, Ill.), Gigi Marvin (Warroad, Minn.), and Anne Schleper (St. Cloud, Minn.).

Bozek was a Patty Kazmaier Award finalist this past season and the top defensive scorer in the nation. She finished her career at Minnesota with two National Championships and 146 total points.

Current Gophers player Lee Stecklein (Roseville, Minn.) also made the roster. Stecklein had a fabulous season at Minnesota as a rookie She was a plus-35 player on the undefeated National Championship team with three goals and nine assists.

For the current enrolled members of head coach Brad Frost’s team at Minnesota, they will miss the upcoming season to spend the entire 2013-14 year training and competing with the USWNT across the globe.

The entire USWNT roster can be found here. The five Gophers on the roster would tie the record for most to play on a women’s hockey Olympic roster representing Minnesota. Five Gopher women competed in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. The 25 players announced Monday will be cut down to 21 for the Sochi Olympic games in December.

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