LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – Former Elmira College women’s ice hockey forward Eliza Beaudin ’22 has been selected to compete for The United States at the 2023 World University Winter Games that will be held at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid. The event will be held January 11-21, 2023.
The World University Games are the second-largest multi-sport winter event in the world, after the Winter Olympics, and are put on every two years by the International University Sports Federation (FISU) as “a celebration of international university sports and culture.”
Brendon Knight, who is the current assistant women’s ice hockey coach at Utica will lead the team and is joined on staff by recently retired Syracuse coach Paul Flanagan, whom Knight coached under, as team general manager. Emily McNamara, head coach at Hamilton College, and Melissa Piacentini, Director of Hockey Ops at Northeastern are also on Knight’s staff.
The World University Winter Games rules state that athletes must be between the ages of 17 and 25 and must be enrolled in school or have graduated in the past year. It was also announced that 2022 graduates will be eligible for the team, which allowed players like Beaudin to be selected.
In the past, teams have been made up of club hockey and DIII players. Knight said the mandate was to field the most competitive team to be able to compete for the ultimate prize. With the NCAA in season, options are somewhat limited, but he has begun to put together a roster of current and former players from DI and DIII.
While the competition is a large and competitive event for countries all around the world, it has failed to gain much traction here in America. The US has never finished higher than third in women’s hockey at the World University Games and most recently placed fourth in 2019.
The group will have very limited time physically together before the Games. They’ll meet on Zoom several times to talk X’s and O’s, but they’ll have one three-day mini-camp with a few hours of ice time to prepare to play together. The finalized roster is expected to be announced this week with just over a month to make the team gel.
As it stands, joining Beaudin on the roster will be former Yale goalkeeper Gianna Meloni, Providence forward Haley Lunny, Bemidji State forward Lydia Passolt, 2022 Laura Hurd Award winner Callie Hoff from UW-River Falls, Plattsburgh’s Annie Katonka and Erin McArdle, and Middlebury’s Madi Leidt.
The tournament features six teams (Canada, Czechia, Great Britain, Japan, Slovakia, and the United States) playing a round-robin tournament, with the top four teams advancing to the semifinal. All women’s preliminary round games will be played at Maxcy Hall on the campus of SUNY Potsdam. Tickets for the tournament will be $10. Find more about the World University Games 2023 in Lake Placid at www.lakeplacid2023.com.
