On Tuesday, U SPORTS announced the student-athletes and coaches who will represent Canada in men's and women's hockey at the 30th FISU Winter Universiade, taking place December 11-21 in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Bisons forward Colton Veloso was selected to the men's team while defender Lauren Warkentin was selected to the women's team, where her head coach will be travelling with her, as Jon Rempel will lead the Canadian women. Additionally, Bisons women's hockey equipment manager Matt Relf will be on the Canadian women staff.
This is the first time both players have been selected to a Universiade roster. Rempel was previously the head coach of the national women's team in 2015, where he led the squad to a silver medal in Granada, Spain.
Veloso, 24, is a forward in his third year of eligibility with Bisons men's hockey. Already having played in the WHL with the Portland Winterhawks and Kootenay (now Winnipeg) ICE, the 5'11", 196-pound winger has since spent 46 games as a consistent scoring threat with Manitoba — while also spending half a season in 2018-19 in the ECHL with the Jacksonville Icemen.
He's totaled 13 goals and 13 assists in three seasons with the Herd — four of those goals coming on the power play.
Warkentin, 21, is on defence in her fifth year of eligibility with Bisons women's hockey. The 5'8" native of Steinbach, Manitoba has been strong for the Bisons throughout her four years with the program. She scored clutch goals for Manitoba in two straight runs to the U SPORTS Women's Hockey Championship in 2018 and 2019 and backed that up with five assists on a young squad in 2019-20.
Warkentin has played in 87 of a possible 92 regular season games and all nine playoff games since joining the Bisons. She's a critical piece of Manitoba's special teams too, with all five of her season assists in 2019-20 coming on the power play.
Rempel is in his 18th year as the head coach of the Bisons women's hockey team in 2021-22. Over his tenure, Rempel has been named Canada West Coach of the Year five times (2004-05), (2006-07) (2014-15) (2016-17) (2017-18) and has led the Bisons to ten Canada West finals, and six trips to the national championships.
Rempel was also the U SPORTS Coach of the Year in 2017-18 after guiding the Bisons to their first-ever national title. In five other trips to nationals, the Bisons have won bronze three times, finished fourth once and finished sixth once.
Canada's men's hockey team will be coached by Gardiner MacDougall (UNB).
Follow Team Canada on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @USPORTSIntl. Read the U SPORTS press release on the Team Canada delegation announcement.
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