Apr 21, 2024 By Jonathan Guth 2 min read

The season is over for the Penguins, but one member of the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite is about to embark on an international hockey experience this week in Europe. 

Peters Township seventh-grade student Kat Monko was chosen to represent the United States in the U14 World Selects Invitational in Chamonix, France. The tournament is scheduled to run Tuesday-Saturday, but Monko and her family left for Europe last Friday afternoon.

“I was very surprised when I was informed that I made the team,” Monko said. “It will also be a neat experience to fly over the ocean. I want to keep moving up the levels of competition in hockey.”

Monko has played for the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite the last four years, which she hopes to continue to do. Monko is labeled as an “offensive defenseman.” 

“My coach put me on defense and I just rolled with it,” Monko said.

Monko has been playing hockey for seven years, and will be a member of the Mid-West Select, which is one of three teams from the United States in the tournament. 

Monko and her family went to Detroit in December for tryouts. She was one of roughly 50 girls picked to play for a United States team, and she is the lone representative from the Pittsburgh area.

Monko wants to thank all the players that came before her as pioneers of women’s hockey. 

One of those pioneers is the senior advisor to the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite girls hockey program Kathy Pippy.

Pippy, who is originally from the Pittsburgh area, also serves as the vice president of girls hockey operations for 200×85 Hockey (development program) and special advisor to the general manager for Ottawa in the Professional Women’s Hockey League. 

Pippy was one of the founders of Pittsburgh’s first tier-1 girls only team in 2004, which became Pittsburgh Penguins Elite in 2012.