X duo attend CIS Camp

August 5, 2008 - X-Women hockey athletes Brayden Ferguson and Marilynn Hay have been selected to attend the CIS all-star selection camp taking place August 12-17 at York University in Toronto. The elite selection camp is part of the process for choosing the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) team that will represent Canada at the 2009 Winter Universiade in Harbin, China.

"The X-Women hockey program is excited for Marilynn and Brayden to be selected to attend the FISU camp," comments X-Women hockey head coach David Synishin. "Both players work extremely hard on and off the ice to reach this level of play and are very deserving of this invitation."

The selection camp is being held in conjunction with the Team Canada Under 22 training camp taking place during the same time frame, with CIS all-stars scheduled to play games against the Under 22 national squad. This is the second opportunity that the CIS and Hockey Canada have had to bring together potential eligible CIS student-athletes for selection to the CIS all-star team for the 2009 Harbin Winter Universiade, as a similar identification camp was held this time last year in Toronto. StFX’s Marilynn Hay also attended the 2007 camp. The camp features 20 student-athletes including two goaltenders, six defense and 12 forwards from ten CIS universities.

The Winter Universiade is an 11-day multi-sport event that takes place every two years in various cities all over the world. The Universiade is open to any competitor between the ages of 17 and 28 in the year of the Games, who is a full-time post-secondary student or has graduated from a post-secondary institution within the previous year of the event. The 25th Universiade in Harbin, China is scheduled to take place in February, 2009 and this Universiade will be the debut for women’s ice hockey. Hockey Canada and CIS will be selecting a CIS all-star team comprised of female varsity athletes from various institutions across the country.

Marilynn Hay, a Sombra, Ont. native, is entering her third year with the X-Women for the upcoming season. She was named a CIS second team all-Canadian this year and a first team AUS all-star. IN her rookie season she was named an AUS first team all-star, was the AUS all-rookie and also earned CIS second team all-Canadian distinction. This past season Marilynn led all AUS defense in scoring with 28 points (3 goals and 25 assists), setting a new conference single season point record for blue-liners.

Brayden Ferguson is from Toronto, ON and her fourth season with the X-Women was her most celebrated to date as she was named the CIS Player of the Year, the first time an AUS athlete has been awarded that honor. She led the country in scoring with 50 points (25 goals and 25 assists) during the regular season and was named the AUS championship Most Valuable Player with six playoff points in two games. A CIS first team all-Canadian and the AUS Most Valuable Player, Brayden became the first player in AUS history to reach the 50-point plateau on two occasions. She will return to the AUS champion X-Women line-up this fall for her fifth season of play.