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The Penguins season is over, but one of the elite members of the Pittsburgh Penguins is embarking on an international hockey experience this week in Europe.
Kat Monko, a seventh-grader from Peters Township, has been selected to represent the United States at the U14 World Select Invitational in Chamonix, France. The tournament is scheduled to run from Tuesday to Saturday, but Monko and his family left for Europe last Friday afternoon.
“When I was informed that I had been selected for the team, I was very surprised,” Monko said. “Flying over the ocean will be a great experience. I want to continue raising the level of competitive hockey.”
Monko has played for the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite for the past four years and hopes to continue playing. Monko is labeled as an “offensive defenseman.”
“Coach put me on defense and I just went with it,” Monko said.
Monko has been playing hockey for seven years and will be a member of the Midwest Select, one of three U.S. teams participating in the tournament.
Monko and her family went to Detroit for tryouts in December. She is one of approximately 50 girls selected to the U.S. team and the only representative from the Pittsburgh area.
Monko would like to thank all the players who came before her as trailblazers in women's hockey.
One of those pioneers is Kathy Pippy, senior advisor for the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite Women's Hockey Program.
Pippy, a Pittsburgh area native, also serves as Vice President of Women's Hockey Operations for 200×85 Hockey (Development Program) and Special Advisor to the General Manager of Ottawa, the Women's Professional Hockey League.
Pippy was one of the founders of Pittsburgh's first women-only Tier 1 team in 2004, which became the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite in 2012.
