» Sceptres’ Hannah Miller denied her chance to play at worlds

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Hannah Miller’s world women’s hockey championship experience is over before it even began.

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The Toronto Sceptres forward and North Vancouver native had petitioned the IIHF for eligibility to re-join the Canadian national team program for the world championship later this month in Czechia after previously representing China at the Beijing Olympics.

As a member of the Kunlun Red Stars Chinese professional team for two seasons, Miller was allowed to play for China at the Beijing Games despite the fact that she did not and does not hold a Chinese passport.

But the feeling even then was if she went ahead and represented China at the Olympic Games, it likely meant closing the door on future play for her native Canada.

That feeling changed after Miller sent a request to the IIHF. Clearly, the Canadian delegation was getting signals that the IIHF would approve the request as Hockey Canada named her to the team roster a few weeks ago. Sceptres head coach Troy Ryan, who also is the head coach of the Canadian women’s team, sounded very optimistic Miller would be cleared to play.

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“There’s definitely a possibility,’ Ryan said at the time. “The request, or the proposal, is in the IIHF’s hands and, from what I understand, I think it would be highly possible that it would be approved.”

Ryan did confirm at that time Hockey Canada was still waiting for official word from the governing body for women’s international hockey.

Officially that word came down yesterday, with the sticking point appearing to be a stipulation that a two-year timeline from when Miller last played overseas have elapsed in order for her to be eligible to play for Canada.

“We are extremely disappointed to learn that Hannah is not able to compete for Canada at the upcoming world championship,” Canadian general manager Gina Kingsbury said in a statement from Hockey Canada.

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Kingsbury, who is also the GM of the Toronto Sceptres added, “We remained optimistic and believed she had met all the conditions outlined by the IIHF to represent her country, including the two-year timeline around the transfer portal.

“Hannah has worked hard this season, earned a spot on our roster and we will look forward to future opportunities for her to wear the Maple Leaf,” Kingsbury said.

Miller, 29, sits fourth overall in PWHL scoring with 24 points in 26 games and has been a big factor in Toronto’s league-best power-play.

Her denial does open the door for her Sceptres teammate Julia Gosling to join the team. Gosling was part of Canada’s gold-medal winning team at last year’s championship in Utica.

Canada opens its defence of that gold medal on April 10 in Czechia with a game against Finland.

mganter@postmedia.com

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