Five current or former Gophers were selected Monday to the U.S. women's national hockey team, making the 25-member preliminary roster for the 2014 Olympics.
Four defensemen--Gigi Marvin of Warroad, Anne Schleper of St. Cloud, Lee Stecklein of Roseville and Megan Bozek—and forward Amanda Kessel were among those chosen from the 41 players who participated in a week-long selection camp at Lake Placid, N.Y.
Stecklein, Kessel and Bozek were part of the Gophers team that completed an undefeated season with an NCAA title earlier this year. Marvin was on the 2010 Olympic team, and Schleper was on the Gophers' team that won the 2012 NCAA championship.
Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux, who played one season for the Gophers before transferring to North Dakota, also made the team.
Beginning in September, the group will train in Boston, Lake Placid and at the National Sports Center in Blaine and will play a schedule of exhibition games this fall. The roster will be reduced in late December, with 21 players making the team that will play in the Olympics in Sochi, Russia, next February.
All five were on the U.S. team that won the gold medal at the 2013 world championships in Ottawa, Canada, in April.
Kessel, who will be a senior this season, and Stecklein, who will be a sophomore, will redshirt during the 2013-14 season to train full time with the national team.
