This afternoon, Hockey Canada announced the centralization roster for the 2018 Canadian Olympic women’s team. While this is not the final Olympic roster—that will be announced closer to Pyeongchang—this is the pool of players that will centralize in Calgary for pre-Olympic training and exhibition games, and from which the Olympic roster will be formed. The roster includes three players from the Toronto Furies: Natalie Spooner, Renata Fast, and Erin Ambrose.

How do you solve a problem like the Olympics?

Spooner is a Hockey Canada mainstay, having played on the senior team since 2011, and already has Olympic gold from Sochi. In her most recent tournament, she scored one goal and two assists en route to a silver medal at this year’s World Championships in Plymouth.

Ambrose and Fast, the Furies’ shiny young defensive pairing, were also both on this year’s World Championship roster. Ambrose saw more ice during the tournament—notching a goal and an assist—and has a longer history with Hockey Canada, including captaining the gold-medal-winning U18 World Championship team in 2012. Fast is a relative newcomer to the national program, but her excellent skating would be a great benefit against speedy competition like Team USA. Also, who would want to separate such a cute D-pair?

Women's HockeyCanadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL)Olympic Coverage