Palmer's Kerry Weiland took another step down the road to Vancouver on Wednesday.
Weiland was one of 41 players -- and one of a dozen defensemen -- picked to participate in next month's USA Hockey Women's National Festival in Blaine, Minn.
The week-long event is the selection camp for the upcoming season's national team. Players who win a spot on that team are the frontrunners for the squad that will represent the United States in Feburary at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Weiland, 28, is no stranger to international competition. She was a member of the U.S. women's hockey team that captured gold at this year's International Ice Hockey Federation's World Women's Championships, and she boasts three other world championship medals -- gold in 2008 and silver in 2007 and 2004.
Her goal is to become the second Alaska woman to earn a spot on the Olympic team. In 2006, Eagle River goaltender Pam Dreyer played on the American team that took the bronze medal.
Among the 40 other players invited to the Aug. 18-24 festival are nine former Olympians, including two who are aiming for a fourth Olympics -- Angela Ruggiero of Michigan and Jenny Potter of Minnesota. All 21 members of this year's world championship team, including Weiland, will be at the camp.
USA Hockey will announce on Aug. 24 the roster for the 2009-10 national team. The team will play a 10-game schedule leading up to the Vancouver Olympics, with the 21-player Olympic roster scheduled to be announced in mid-December.
Weiland, a two-time NCAA All-American for the University of Wisconsin, was plus 3 in five games at the world championships and had an even plus-minus rating in the Americans' 2-1 championship-game victory.
Anchorage Daily News
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