BURSTHockey Canada is going with a younger, less experienced squad at the 2026 IIHF Women’s World Championship, leaving Surrey’s Jenn Gardiner and others on the outside looking in.
Gardiner, 25, a Vancouver Goldeneyes forward who a silver medal with Team Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, was left off the roster announced Monday, Oct. 19.
The team was assembled by Danièle Sauvageau, new to the job of general manager, and coaching staff led by Kori Cheverie, named head coach not long before training camp in Quebec, Oct. 8-14.
Gardiner was named to the training camp roster but won’t be going to the World Championship in Denmark from Nov. 6-16, when six first-time national players will be among 25 to wear the Maple Leaf.
It’s clear that Sauvageau picked young NCAA players over Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) veterans like Gardiner and Goldeneyes teammate Sarah Nurse.
Vancouver’s PWHL team opens training camp Wednesday, Nov. 18, two-plus weeks ahead of the 2026-27 regular-season start at home on Saturday, Dec. 5 at Pacific Coliseum against Seattle Torrent, 1 p.m. puck drop.
Click on hockeycanada.ca to see Canada’s IIHF Women’s World Championship roster.
In Denmark, Team Canada will be joined in Group B by tourney host Denmark, Finland, Japan and Sweden, while Group A includes Austria, Czechia, Germany, Switzerland and United States.
Canada will be on the ice in Windsor, Ontario (Oct. 28) and Plymouth, Michigan (Oct. 30), for pre-tournament games against the United States.
The Now-Leader has reached out to Gardiner for comment and will update this story if and when it happens.