May 19, 2015
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.; May 19, 2015 - Hannah Ehresmann (Minnetonka, Minn.) and Celine Whitlinger (Garden Grove, Calif.) will participate in the first USA Hockey Women's National Team Goalie Development Camp at Schwan's Super Center in Blaine, Minn., from May 21 to May 24, USA Hockey announced.
This is the first USA Hockey Development Camp invitation extended to any current Penn State women's hockey player in the program's history.
Invitations are given to the top-18 female goalies in the United States eligible for international play. The camp's instructors are Robb Stauber, the U.S. Women's National Team goaltending coach, Manon Rheaume, a Canadian Olympic silver medalist, Steve Guider, the head girls hockey coach at Blaine (Minn.) High School and Lucy Schoedel, the goaltending coach for the U.S. Women's U18 National Team.
Eight of the camp's invitees are enrolled at the university level, eight are in high school and two have graduated college. Ehresmann and Whitlinger are the only two representatives from the same school.
This is the third USA Hockey Development Camp invitation for Ehresmann, who participated in 2012 and 2013 camps. "It's an honor to go because it means that they're looking at me and I'm playing well," Ehresmann said.
Whitlinger participated in USA Hockey Development Camps for 15-, 16- and 17-year-olds, and also attended the 2012 USA Hockey Warren Strelow Goaltending Camp. "It's nice to represent Penn State," Whitlinger said of the invitation, "and it shows how much hard work pays off."
The pair are not the only Nittany Lions associated with USA Hockey. Penn State equipment manager Ben Kogut serves in the same capacity with the U18 Women's National Team and won a gold medal with the team in January at the IIHF U18 Women's World Championship.