Three members of the Wisconsin women's hockey team will travel to Blaine, Minn., to take part in the 2009 USA Hockey Women's National Festival - the selection camp for the 2009-'10 national team.
Forwards Meghan Duggan, Hilary Knight and Brooke Ammerman are part of the 41-person roster that will take part in the festival Aug. 18-24. They will join eight other former Badgers at the camp, including three teammates from the 2008-'09 season: forwards Angie Keseley and Erika Lawler and goaltender Jessie Vetter.
Incoming freshman Brianna Decker will also attend the camp. Decker is one of four players at the camp who will start at Wisconsin in the fall.
The festival will serve as a tryout for players looking to join Team USA at the 2009-'10 Qwest Tour, a series of 10 exhibition games against a number of women's hockey teams around the country.
The tour starts Sept. 25 against the WCHA All-Stars in St. Paul, Minn., and ends a week before the start of the 2010 Olympics in February. On their way across the country, Team USA will face the Wisconsin women's hockey team at the Kohl Center in early January.
Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson, who was selected in January to lead Team USA at the Olympics, will also coach the team during the Qwest Tour. Johnson coached four Badgers - Duggan, Knight, Lawler and Vetter - and Team USA to a gold medal at the 2009 International Ice Hockey Federation World Women's Championship in April.
Participants in the National Festival will take part in daily practices and games at Team USA's national Sports Center. Team USA will select who will take part in the Qwest Tour after the weeklong festival ends Aug. 24.
From those remaining players, a 21-person roster will be named in mid-December for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, which run Feb. 12-28.
