Players to watch at the IIHF world championship tournament

Team USA completed the final roster over the weekend and with its release Sunday, the field is that much closer to being ready for Wednesday's start of the 2025 International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship at the Adirondack Bank Center.

Eighteen players return from the gold medal United States team at the 2023 tournament in Brampton, Ontario, and two former members of the national team are back, leaving five newcomers to make their international debut for the home team in Utica. One of those newcomers is Sydney Morrow, a sophomore defenseman on nearby Colgate University's 2024 Frozen Four team.

More: IIHF Women’s World Championship primer: What you need to know about the tournament

More: Team USA selecting roster for women's world championship

Morrow is sure to have familiar fans in the stands the next two weeks, as should national team returnees Haley Winn from Clarkson University and Rory Guilday from Cornell University, the other two players on the squad who competed in the ECAC this winter.

Danielle Serdachny, Morrow's Colgate teammate, is a forward on the Team Canada roster for the second consecutive year.

What are some other names to look for on the ice, in your program and in the boxscores? Here are a few.

• Ann-Renee Desbiens, Canada: Winner of the top goaltender award at the 2023 world championship, Desbiens celebrates her 30th birthday on the day off before this year's quarterfinals. She went to four Frozen Fours with Wisconsin during her college career and now plays for PWHL Montreal.

• Renata Fast, Canada: 29-year-old defenseman was an all-star selection at last year's tournament. Two-time gold medalist is appearing at her sixth world championship tournament.

• Sarah Fillier, Canada: The Most Valuable Player at the 2023 tournament recently completed her college career with 93 goals and 101 assists for Princeton University and is The Hockey News' No. 1 prospect for the 2024 Professional Women's Hockey League draft. The 23-year-old was also voted the top forward at last year's tournament, played on Canada's 2021 and 2022 world championship-winning teams and hold medal 2022 Olympic team, and teamed with her twin sister Kayla at Princeton.

• Aerin Frankel, United States: 24-year-old goalie from Briarcliff posted a 1.48 GAA with save percentage of 93.18 in last year's tournament while starting five consecutive games, the first US goalie to do so in the Olympics or Worlds in a quarter of century. Frankel played collegiately at Northeastern and now plays for PWHL Boston in the Professional Women's Hockey League.

• Caroline Harvey, United States: The leading scorer at last year's tournament with 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in seven games, completed her sophomore season at Wisconsin. The 21-year-old defenseman, who deferred the start of her college career while playing on the 2022 Olympic team, contributed five goals and 30 assists to Wisconsin's march to the national championship game in Durham, New Hampshire. She was chosen for the all-star team at the 2023 world championships.

• Taylor Heise, United States: PWHL Minnesota forward turned 24 in March and had a tournament-high 11 assists at the world tournament in Canada last year. She was Ms. Hockey in Minnesota as a high school senior, played collegiately at Minnesota, and earned MVP honors at the 2022 world championship in Denmark.

• Jenni Hiirikoski, Finland: Veteran defenseman and Finnish captain turned 37 Saturday and will be appearing at her 16th world championship tournament, having debuted on her 17th birthday in Canada 20 years ago. Hiirikoski was voted the most valuable player of the 2019 tournament played in Finland. She is an eight-time world championships medalist.

• Hilary Knight, United States: The senior member of the US roster and team captain its is a 34-year-old forward is originally from California, played collegiately at Minnesota, and currently plays for PWHL Boston. She tied records at last year's world championships with her 13th medal and ninth gold while recording eight goals and four assists, and becoming the first player to record 100 career points.

• Natalie Mlynkova, Czechia: 22-year-old forward scored 38 combined goals as a junior and senior at the University of Vermont and earned Hockey East Player of the Year honors as the Catamounts' captain this winter. She scored 30 points in 30 games as a senior and returns for a fifth world championship having helped her home country win two bronze medals, Czechia's first two medals at the event.

• Petra Nieminen, Finland: 24-year-old forward and alternate captain led the Fins with 13 points (six goals, seven assists) as an all-star at last year's tournament. She had five points in six games at the 2018 Olympics, helping Finland win bronze in South Korea, then led the team to its lone appearance in the old medal game at the world championships the following year and had an overtime goal disallowed on replay in an eventual shootout victory by the United States.

• Marie-Philip Poulin, Canada: Tenth-year Canadian captain turned 33 Thursday and brings more than 100 goals and 200 points in international play to Utica for her 12th consecutive world championship tournament. She has three world championship gold medals and three Olympic golds, and 15 combined medals for the two events. Poulin was a flag-bearer for Canada at the 2022 Olympics.

• Lara Stalder, Switzerland: 29-year-old forward led Switzerland with 11 points (four goals, 11 assists) and 35 penalty minutes in Brampton at last year's tournament. She scored 148 points during a four-year college career at the University on Minnesota-Duluth.

• Hilda Svensson, Sweden: 17-year-old forward and team captain returns for her second world championship tournament after debuting with a goal 10 seconds into her first game against Germany last year, and another sending Sweden's quarterfinal against Canada into overtime in the final minute of regulation. She had five goals and six assists in last year's tournament, matching Hanna Olsson with 11 points to lead her team. Svensson has committed to play college hockey in the United States at Ohio State starting with the 2025-26 season.

• Haley Winn, United States: 20-year-old defenseman from Rochester helped Clarkson University advance to the Frozen Four as a junior with 10 goals and 29 assists in 38 games, including four three-point games. Winn played on last year's gold medal team for the US at the world championships and has three brothers playing elsewhere in college.

• Ohio State Buckeyes, United States: Graduate students Cayla Barnes and Hannah Bilka return, and freshman Joy Dunne is one of the newcomers on the US roster after leading Ohio States to its second national championship in three years. Bilka led the Buckeyes with 48 points (22 goals, 26 assists) while fellow forward Dunne scored a team-leading 24 goals, and Barnes, a transfer from Boston College, chipped in with 11 goals and 25 assists on defense. Dunne scored the only goal in the third period of the 1-0 win over Wisconsin in the March 24 championship game in Durham, New Hampshire; Barnes and Bilka assisted.

This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Players to watch at the 2024 IIHF world championship in Utica