Abigail MacKenzie to represent Canada at 2025 FISU Winter World University Games
Huskies defender Abigail MacKenzie has been selected to represent Canada at the 2025 FISU World University Games in Torino, Italy.
A third year defender from Stellarton, NS, MacKenzie has been a standout over her three seasons with the Huskies. MacKenzie was named a 2023-24 First Team AUS All-Star, finishing second in the conference in defence scoring with 22 points (five goals and 17 assists) in 28 games played.
Over three seasons, MacKenzie has amassed 31 points (six goals, 25 assists) in 72 career games, with a +15 plus/minus rating. MacKenzie is studying a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Psychology and has been named a U SPORTS Academic All-Canadian the past two years.
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Canada's roster features a trio of 2024 U SPORTS All-Canadians, including Gabrielle Santerre (Bishop's University), Mackenzie Keenan (University of New Brunswick), and Émilie Lussier (Concordia University). Santerre is coming off a historic season that saw her heard U SPORTS Rookie of the Year and U SPORTS Player of the Year honours for her 45-point debut campaign with the Gaiters.
The roster is not short on championship pedigree, as the past two U SPORTS victors, the Concordia Stingers and Mount Royal Cougars, are heavily represented on Paton's squad. The Stingers contingent includes Lussier, Jordyn Verbeek, Emilie Lavoie, and Alexandra-Anne Boyer, while the Cougars are represented by Aliya Jomha, Alex Spence, and Kaitlyn Ross.
The gold-medal winning team from 2023 will return two players to this year's contingent: OUA forwards Leah Herrfort (University of Waterloo) and Scout Watkins-Southward (University of Toronto). Herrfort, the 2023 OUA Player of the Year, had seven points in seven games in the 2023 tournament in Lake Placid.
"Being selected to represent Canada and U SPORTS is an incredible honour. To have the opportunity to do it twice is truly special and something I will never take for granted. I have the opportunity to represent my country alongside 20 very talented athletes and I couldn't be more excited. Having played in the FISU Games before, I understand what little time we have together as a team and how important it is to make the best of those two weeks. FISU is an amazing chance to meet players from different provinces while making memories and representing our country with pride. I look forward to meeting everyone and having a chance to learn from each other and the coaching staff."
The goaltending trio of Verbeek (Concordia University), Kaitlyn Ross (Mount Royal University) and Grace Beer (Dalhousie University) have a combined win-loss record of 22-6, with each maintaining a goals against average under 1.70 and a save percentage over .920.
Team Canada will open its schedule on Saturday, January 11th against Chinese Taipei.
ROSTER
Grace Beer
Goaltender
Dalhousie University
Alexandra-Anne Boyer
Defence
Concordia University
Madison Desmarais
Forward
Nipissing University
Malory Dominico
Forward
Nipissing University
Sophia Gaskell
Defence
University of British Columbia
Leah Herrfort
Forward
University of Waterloo
Aliya Jomha
Forward
Mount Royal University
Mackenzie Keenan
Defence
University of New Brunswick
Emilie Lavoie
Forward
Concordia University
Emilie Lussier
Forward
Concordia University
Abigail MacKenzie
Defence
Saint Mary's University
Jaime Magoffin
Forward
University of Guelph
Sydney Mercier
Forward
University of Calgary
Ekaterina Pelowich
Forward
St. Thomas University
Erica Plourde
Forward
Université de Moncton
Emma Potter
Defence
University of Toronto
Kaitlyn Ross
Goaltender
Mount Royal University
Gabrielle Santerre
Forward
Bishop's University
Alex Spence
Defence
Mount Royal University
Jordyn Verbeek
Goaltender
Concordia University
Scout Watkins Southward
Forward
University of Toronto