Wendy Graves
It started with the first pick, continued with the second, then the third, fourth and fifth.
It picked up again with the seventh-overall selection through to the 10th.
When it was all over, 13 alumnae of either Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team or Canada’s National Women’s Development Team – or in some cases both – had been chosen in the 2016 CWHL Draft. Nine of the top 10 picks have played for Canada at least once.
This includes Erin Ambrose, who has made 11 appearances for the two teams, starting with a three-game summer series versus the United States in 2011 when she cracked the under-18 roster as a 15-year-old. Her name is now all over the U18 record books: most games played (24), most assists (21) and most points by a defenceman (25). In 2012, she captained Canada to gold at the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship.
Three other draftees have also worn letters for Canada, all with the development team: Sarah Lefort (captain), and Shannon MacAulay and Cassandra Poudrier (alternate captains).
Laura Stacey has worn Canadian colours 10 times and been a member of four gold-medal-winning teams.
All told, two players have won U18 gold (Emerance Maschmeyer and Taylor Woods), two have won gold with the development team (Renata Fast and Katelyn Gosling) and five have won gold with both teams (Ambrose, Lefort, MacAulay, Poudrier and Stacey). Combined, they’ve brought home 22 gold medals.
National Women’s Under-18 Team and National Women’s Development Team alumnae selected in the 2016 CWHL Draft included:
1st Round 1. Boston – Kayla Tutino WU18: 2009 – 3GP 0G 0A 0P
2. Toronto – Renata Fast NWDT: 2014-15 – 12GP 2G 3A 5P
3. Brampton – Laura Stacey WU18: 2010-12 – 16 GP 10G 10A 20P NWDT: 2012-16 – 25 GP 3G 4A 7P
4. Calgary – Emerance Maschmeyer WU18: 2011-12 – 7GP; 4-1-0; 1.10 GAA NWDT: 2012, 2014-15 – 7GP; 1-4-0; 2.45 GAA
5. Montreal – Sarah Lefort WU18: 2012 – 5GP 3G 3A 6P NWDT: 2012-15 – 18GP 6G 5A 11P
2nd Round 7. Toronto – Erin Ambrose WU18: 2009-12 – 24GP 4G 21A 25P NWDT: 2012-16 – 19GP 0G 3A 3P
8. Brampton – Shannon MacAulay WU18: 2011-12 – 8GP 0G 3A 3P NWDT: 2014-16 – 18GP 2G 8A 10P
9. Calgary – Katelyn Gosling NWDT: 2015-16 – 9GP 1G 1A 2P 10. Montreal – Cassandra Poudrier WU18: 2008-10 – 13GP 0G 5A 5P NWDT: 2012-13, 2015-16 – 26GP 3G 6A 9P
4th Round 20. Montreal – Brittney Fouracres NWDT: 2014 – 3GP 0G 0A 0P
5th Round 23. Brampton – Taylor Woods WU18: 2011-12 – 8GP 3G 3A 6P
7th Round 31. Boston – Alexis Woloschuk WU18: 2010 – 3GP 0P 0A 0P
8th Round 40. Montreal – Amanda Makela WU18: 2010-11 – 4GP; 2-1-0; 1.69 GAA