Women's Hockey | 8/15/2018 2:11:00 PM
PITTSBURGH -- One of the top returnees on the
Robert Morris women's hockey team will have a chance to show her prowess on the international stage.
Incoming junior forward
Jaycee Gebhard has made the 22-player roster for Canada's National Women's Development Team in advance of its Summer Showcase against Team USA. The series, consisting of three games over a four-day span, runs Aug. 16-19 at the Markin MacPhail Centre in Calgary, Alberta, part of the team's WinSport training facilities.
The Canadian and American Development Teams will face off Thursday and Friday at 9:00 p.m. EDT and conclude with a 12:00 p.m. EDT contest Sunday.
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"I am humbled and honoured to be representing Canada and to be representing RMU. There are no words to describe the feeling of putting on the maple leaf and standing on the blue line hearing our anthem--it gives me chills just thinking about it," said Gebhard, who will enter her junior season ranked sixth on the RMU all-time scoring list with 84 points (35 goals, 49 assists). "There is such a feeling of pride to step on the ice in a Canadian Jersey and to be a role model for young girls who dream of playing for Team Canada. It is a very rewarding feeling to have all of the hard work and perseverance pay off and to get me one step closer to my ultimate dream.
"I have to give a huge shout-out to (Head) Coach Paul (Colontino), (assistant coach) Chelsea (Walkland), (associate head coach) Logan (Bittle), and of course, to all the girls at RMU, as making this team would not be possible without their guidance and support and their daily push to help me get better every day."
Being surrounded by other great players is nothing new to Gebhard, who has been a fixture on some of the nation's most productive lines in her first two seasons of NCAA Division I hockey while helping the Colonials capture back-to-back College Hockey America regular-season titles. The 5'3" Plenty, Saskatchewan native and Notre Dame Hounds product registered 38 points in 2017-18, including a career-high 25 assists, the second-most in a single season in RMU history, skating mostly with fellow SaskatchewanianÂ
Amber Rennie and two-time CHA Player of the Year
Brittany Howard.
Gebhard finished her sophomore campaign strongly, doing so on a five-game point streak and earning a point in 12 of 13 games Jan. 13-Mar. 3. She scored nine goals over her final ten regular-season outings, and the aforementioned forward trio combined for 54 of the team's 122 goals in '17-'18, a new Robert Morris single-season record.
She began her second season at RMU by tying another school mark with six assists at Minnesota State Oct. 8, 2017 and, two weeks later, was named CHA Player of the Week for the first time as a collegian, having contributed a game-winning goal and six more helpers to a series sweep at Brown.
Her final plus-27 rating was good for a third-place tie on the team and in the conference, and she finished among the top 20 in D-I in assists (0.78) and points (1.19) per game.
In 2016-17, Gebhard became the first Colonial to be tabbed the Women's Hockey Commissioners' Association (WHCA) National Rookie of the Year, and she was also hailed CHA Rookie of the Year after establishing a pair of Robert Morris rookie records with 22 goals and 46 points.
She led the nation in power play goals, with nine, and power play points, with 19, while helping lead RMU to its second CHA Tournament championship in school history and first-ever NCAA Tournament berth.
Prior to committing to Robert Morris, Gebhard served as assistant captain for the Under-18 Canadian squad in 2014-15.
"We are both proud and excited for Jaycee. It's a great honor to have the opportunity to represent your country in competition," Colontino said. "We couldn't be more proud to say she is an RMU student-athlete."
As part of the Team Canada Summer Showcase, a total of 92 players were invited to attend both developmental and under-18 camps, which involved on- and off-ice training, classroom sessions and fitness testing. The National Women's Development Team camp also included games against Japan's national women's team and a team of U SPORTS all-stars, while the National Women's Under-18 Team camp include three intrasquad games before players were selected to compete against the United States.
"The opportunity to scout and assess players at our development and under-18 levels is an integral part in the growth and development of our athletes as we embark on a new four-year cycle leading into the 2022 Olympics," said Gina Kingsbury, Hockey Canada's director of women's national teams. "We have built a storied history and rivalry with the Americans and the importance of our games, starting with these three-game series, will allow us to begin to identify those athletes who will be part of our program competing at the highest international level."
Gebhard has notched a goal and an assist for the developmental side in exhibition play.
Joining her at the developmental camp were Howard, who became the program's all-time scoring leader as a redshirt senior in 2017-18, and CHA Defender of the Year Kirsten Welsh, who will return to Robert Morris for her senior season after taking the all-time lead in points by a defender as a junior.
The Colonials will host the Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) in preseason play Sept. 22 before welcoming St. Lawrence for the 2018-19 season opener Sept. 28-29.
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