July 2, 2008

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Former Yale women's ice hockey goaltender Nicolette Franck '04 will play for Team Canada at the upcoming International Federation of Roller Sports (FIRS) Inline Hockey World Championship in Dusseldorf and Ratingen, Germany. Canada's first game is July 7 vs. the Czech Republic.

A native of Mississauga, Ont., Franck is currently an assistant coach at Wayne State and helped the Warriors to the best record in school history (22-9-3) last season. She has been training and playing for three men's teams (Silver, Gold and 30+ A teams) at Total Sports in Wixom, Mich., in preparation for the championship. Franck has also participated in women's tournaments such as the North American Roller Hockey Championships (NARCh). She was the recipient of the top goaltender award at the 2006 NARCh Finals and the 2008 NARCh Regionals.

Franck earned four letters for the Bulldogs and won the Bulldog Award for team spirit in 2003-04. She is fifth on Yale's career save percentage list (.878) and ninth on Yale's career saves list (1,120).

The FIRS Inline Hockey World Championship includes 10 teams divided into two pools. Canada is part of Pool B with the Czech Republic, Finland, France and Namibia. Pool A includes Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Spain and the USA. After round-robin play the top three teams from each pool advance to the World Championship playoffs. The gold medal and bronze medal games take place July 12.

Canada has won gold at the World Championship three times since the event started in 2002. Franck was a part of Canada's silver-medal finish in 2006, playing in the 11-2 win vs. Great Britain and the 6-0 win vs. the Czech Republic.

Updates on the World Championship will be available on-line at http://www.wc2008.info.

report by Sam Rubin '95 (sam.rubin@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity