GB U18 Women Name Alternates

Following the announcement of the GB U18 Women’s captain last week, head coach Sean Alderson has now named the two alternate captains who will support Kaitlyn Butterfield in their forthcoming IIHF World Championship (Division 1 qualifier) in Katowice, Poland.

During their final training camp in Widnes on Saturday, Katerina Lossnitzer (Slough) and Clara Ashton (Manchester) were handed the honour.

Katerina said: “It is always an honour to pull on the GB shirt and I am very proud to be given the ‘A’.

“The team has been working hard all year towards the same goal, which is to come back with the gold medal and we are all very excited to be heading to Poland on Friday.”

Clara said: “It’s such an honour to wear a GB shirt, especially with an ‘A’ on it. It’s an opportunity I am so grateful for.

“It’s a privilege to represent your country and now we have to make all of our hard work count by bringing back the gold.”

The team will fly out to Katowice, Poland on Friday morning and will take on their hosts in a exhibition game on Saturday as part of their final preparations, before getting their campaign under way on Monday against Denmark (4:30pm).

GB will then go on to play Italy (Wednesday 21st January), Kazakhstan (Thursday 22nd), China (Saturday 24th), before completing their tournament on Sunday 25th January against Poland.

Head coach, Sean Alderson, said: “As with Kaitlyn, Katerina and Clara have shown great leadership throughout the whole trial process and in the end it became an easy decision for us.

“Each bring something different to the table and collectively they work so well together.

“All three players attended the IIHF High Performance Camp in Vierumaki, Finland in July and the experience they gained has been invaluable to both themselves and the team.”