Caroline Ouellette, Team Canada’s Alternate Captain is sharing a WINIH blog with Kim St. Pierre at the 2011 World Championship. She answered question sent via email from editor, Elizabeth Etue.

Elizabeth Etue: What was it like in the dressing room after first and second period?
Caroline Ouellette: Our coaches talked about making sure we had good habits, a shooting mentality, traffic in front of the net, and discipline.

EE: Who are captain and assistant captains?
CO: Hayley Wickenheiser was named captain for the tournament and Jayna Hefford and I are the alternate captains. We have a leadership group including Tessa Bonhomme, Meghan Mikkelson and Haley Irwin. It is important to have that group so we can reach out to everyone on the team. We all feel more comfortable with some players and by having 6 of us, we are sure that all the young players have at least one leader they can talk with. We also know that we must stick together and help convey the coaches’ messages to the team. We must lead by example and encourage others to follow us. With six of us, we can be vocal at different times and it can come from a different voice which is important.
The coaches had planned to keep Hayley as our captain and have the 5 remaining players share the A’s in the 2 first games of the tournament but Tessa Bonhomme said she thought it would be best if Jayna and I wore the letters as we have the past years and are veterans and proposed we kept it consistent. I think this shows how much of a team player and how humble Tessa is.

On the Ice.
EE: How were the Canadian newcomers doing – the 5 new players….in terms of poise and nerves?
CO: Our new players are very poised and confident with the puck. Their skill level is amazing and they blend it very well. At camp I thought that the level of play went up another notch since Vancouver with the young players really elevating the pace in the games.Our best line tonight was Piper-Apps and Spooner who scored 5 goals and was dangerous all game.

EE: Have the Swiss improved and if so what areas? Do they have some new young players that surprized you and TC?
CO: I believe that they have improved and they had several good chances on Charline Labonté who was solid for us. The Marty sisters are their best players and their goalie Florence Schelling has emerged as one of the good goalies in the world. The Swiss were physical and did not give up.

EE: Who was on your line during most of the game?
CO: Sarah Vaillancourt and Marie-Philip Poulin

After the Game:
EE: What did you think about the game overall in terms of your play and TC’s?
CO: Our team did a lot of good things and created great chances by sharing the puck all night. We moved the puck pretty well and used our speed on the attack. We had good shots off the pass. We also scored goals because we had good screens in front of their goalies, a point that was stressed a lot by our coaches. Our line did not connect as well as we did against Sweden (pretournament game) unfortunately but it happens and we still had several good chances. Some nights just seems like it does not go your way.

EE: What did coach say after the game in dressing room that you liked particularly?
CO: Ryan said that he was proud of how the team played and worked on the aspects we wanted to improve on. We remained discipline with the line changes so we stay fresh for later in the tournament.

EE: How was the fatigue factor after and during the game?
CO: Not at this point. We had short practices this morning and yesterday and were able to use everyone today.