Surrey’s Jennifer Gardiner will again wear the maple leaf for international games, a few months after winning a national championship with her university team.
Following an 11-day selection camp, the Cloverdale-raised Gardiner was among 23 players named to Canada’s National Women’s Development Team for a three-game series against the United States this week in Calgary.
The 2001-born Gardiner, a five-foot-six forward, won a national championship with Ohio State Buckeyes in March after starring for Greater Vancouver Comets of the B.C. Female Major Midget League (now BCEHL U18 Female) and, before that, Surrey Falcons.
Hockey Canada’s selection camp involved 142 players for both the national development team and U18 squad, also in action against a U.S. team this week.
On the website hockeycanada.ca, Gardiner’s bio lists national-team stats since 2018. Also posted is the development team roster, which includes Langley’s Sara Swiderski on defence and Aldergrove-raised forward Amy Potomak. Canada’s U18 squad includes Jordan Baxter, a New Westminster-born forward with Delta Hockey Academy.
In January 2019, Gardiner was among Team Canada’s golden girls after winning the International Ice Hockey Federation’s U18 Women’s World Championships in Japan. Gardiner played four games with Canada during the championship tourney. She didn’t register a point, but netted a pair of goals in two pre-tourney games.
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Gardiner graduated from Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary. At age two, she started skating and soon got involved in hockey, following in her older brother’s footsteps.
“She tried figure skating, but there was no way she’d wear those skates,” her mom, Diane, said in 2018. “She took lessons, but she would always wanted to wear hockey skates.”
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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