NCAA standouts Abby Newhook and Maggie Connors of St. John’s invited to Canadian national women’s program selection camp

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — A pair of female hockey players from this province are skating amongst Canada’s best this week in Calgary.

Abby Newhook and Maggie Connors, both from St. John’s, are two of 142 players from across the country who were invited to the national women’s program selection camp that started on Wednesday and runs until Aug. 11.

The camp brings together athletes looking to grab a spot on the women’s national team, the women’s development team and the national under-18 team. It is being held at the Markin MacPhail Centre at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park.

Read more

The camp represents the start of the 2022-2023 season and the next Olympic Games cycle.

For Newhook and Connors, it will be a chance to catch the eye of a talent evaluator in hopes of landing a spot on either the national women’s team or its development team.

Connors enters camp coming off a strong junior season at Princeton University. The 21-year-old registered 13 goals and 22 points in 33 games with the Tigers.

That was good enough to see Connors named to the Ivy League’s all-star second team. Combining her season with a strong academic year, she also earned a spot on the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) all-academic team.

Connors was previously invited to attend the 2019 Hockey Canada national women’s development team selection camp and was a member of the 2018-2019 Canada national development team.

Newhook had an outstanding freshman season at Boston College. The 19-year-old led the Eagles in goals, with 17, and was third in points, with 32.

She was named the Hockey East rookie of the year and was a unanimous selection to the Hockey East all-rookie team.

Previously, Newhook was a member of the Hockey Canada national women’s under-18 team virtual summer camp held in 2021 and then was one of 23 players selected to participate in the Canadian women’s national team’s summer showcase.

The pair won’t be the only two from this province at the camp in Calgary. St. John’s native A.J. Murley will be part of the under-18 camp staff as an equipment manager.