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Current Wisconsin Badgers Courtney Burke and Annie Pankowski, former Badger and recently graduated goalie and captain Alex Rigsby and four high school players who have committed to Wisconsin -- Mekenzie Steffen, Sophia Shaver, Audrey Warner and Presley Norby -- are among the 69 women who were invited to the USA Women's National Festival taking place in Lake Placid, New York, in less than two weeks.
The camp will determine the rosters for the U-18 and U-22 teams that will face Team Canada in three-game series Aug. 21-24 in Calgary, Alberta.
Pankowski was one of the last players cut from the U.S. Olympic Team roster prior to heading to Sochi this past winter. She delayed her entrance to Wisconsin to spend time in residence, training with Team USA for that opportunity.
According to the release from UWBadgers.com, Burke attended the U.S. Olympic Team Selection Camp last summer and won a silver medal with the US U-18 team that competed at the 2012 World Women’s U-18 Championships.
Rigsby's list of accomplishments with the Badgers have been well documented on this site, but she has also played for the U.S. at the 2012 Four Nations Cup, the 2013 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women’s World Championships and at the IIHF Under-18 World Championships in 2009. She is one of seven goalies invited to the camp.
Four members of Team USA's silver-medal winning team from Sochi are eligible for the U-22 squad and will be in camp: Minnesota's Lee Stecklein, Boston College's Alex Carpenter, Northeastern's Kendall Coyne and Havard's Michelle Picard.
In addition to Rigsby, two more Wisconsin natives are on the roster: Alexis Mauermann, from Janesville and a junior at Shattuck-St. Mary's, and Kenzie Prater, a junior from Hudson who has committed to play at Quinnipiac.
Five Badgers were selected to compete at Team Canada camp for a change to play in this rivals series as well, so there is a chance for quite a bit of Badger involvement in that series.