Monique Lamoureux (left) and Jocelyne Lamoureux (right) skate at Ralph Engelstad Arena during their time at UND. Though they graduated after the 2012-13 season, the twins still had the chance to represent their country on the ice. File photos.

Current, former and incoming North Dakota women’s hockey players are overseas this week competing in the 2015 Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship in Malmo, Sweden.

North Dakota has ties to players on five out of the eight teams participating in the event.

Current North Dakota skaters Halli Krzyzaniak (Canada), Tanja Eisenschmid (Germany), Johanna Fallman (Sweden) and former players Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux (USA) made the trip abroad.

Michelle Karvinen and Susanna Tapani will represent Finland. Incoming North Dakota recruit Vilma Tankskanen will be playing for team Finland in the tournament.

Andrea Dalen (Norway) and Josefine Jakobsen (Denmark) will appear in the Division I group A tournament which will start on April 12th in Rouen, France.

For the Grand Forks natives Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux, this will be the fifth Women’s World Championship of their international hockey careers. The two sisters have been the driving force behind the success of team USA in the previous IIHF Women’s World Championships.

Together, they have accumulated 57 points in the four years of skating for team USA. Both sisters’ best performance came in 2012 when Monique posted seven goals and seven assists and Jocelyne scored four times, while also assisting on five USA goals.

The Lamoureux sisters have won gold in this tournament in 2009, 2011 and 2013, and brought home silver in 2012. Monique was the top goal scorer in the tournament in 2012 and was announced Player of the Game in the United States 9-2 win over Canada.

Last Friday in the first games of the tournament, the United States defeated Canada 4-2.  Both Lamoureux sisters had points in the win over Canada.

Halli Krzyzaniak will be skating with the Canadian senior team for the second time in her career. The sophomore native from Neepawa, Manitoba caught her first glimpse of representing team Canada in the 2014 Four Nations Cup that was held last November. Krzyzaniak was recently named to the Western Collegiate Hockey Associations All WCHA Third Team after posting a 13-point season and a plus-11 rating. Kryzyaniak was one of the youngest players on Canada’s roster during the Four Nations, but still found herself playing in every game with time on the power play and penalty kill. She also assisted on the game-winner against team USA in preliminary play.

Junior defenseman Eisenschmid will be representing Germany in her third Women’s World Championship appearance. In 2012, Eisenschmid scored first national team goal while shorthanded  Eisenschmid also joins her younger sister Nicola, who plays forward for team Germany.

The Women’s World Championship will run through this week and finish on April 3. The United States has taken home the gold five times since 2005. After upending Canada in the first game, it looks to be on pace to bring home another. Canada and the Unites States have played in the gold medal game every year of the tournament.

Ben Novak is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].