TWENTY-ONE PLAYERS INVITED TO CANADA’S NATIONAL MEN’S UNDER-18 TEAM TRAINING CAMP
CALGARY, Alta. – Hockey Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), announced Friday the 21 players who have been invited to attend Canada’s National Men’s Under-18 Team training camp, April 6-10 at the MasterCard Centre in Toronto, Ont.
The roster includes two goaltenders, seven defencemen and 12 forwards.
The players, born in 1995, 1996 and 1997, were selected by Hockey Canada head scout Kevin Prendergast, in consultation with head coach Don Hay (Kamloops, B.C./Vancouver, WHL) and assistant coaches Jody Hull (Petrolia, Ont./Peterborough, OHL) and Yves Sarault (Valleyfield, Que.). Prendergast evaluated the players during the 2012-13 season, following them along with numerous other candidates during league play, as well as during the 2012 and 2013 World Under-17 Hockey Challenges.
The camp roster includes eight players from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, seven from the Western Hockey League and six from the Ontario Hockey League. In total, 10 players (one goaltender, two defencemen and seven forwards) competed at the 2012 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, and seven players (two defencemen and five forwards) competed at the 2013 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.
The roster also includes six players (Morgan Klimchuk, Yan-Pavel Laplante, Josh Morrissey, Sam Reinhart, Nick Ritchie and Shea Theodore) who helped Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team win the gold medal at the 2012 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka tournament in the Czech Republic and Slovakia last summer.
Hockey Canada has invited select under-age players that will travel to Sochi, Russia, and play in pre-competition games to get added experience playing international competition before returning to Canada prior to the start of the tournament. Players that have been eliminated from the CHL playoffs will be added to complete the roster for the world championship.
Canada will play two pre-tournament games before the IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship, on April 14 against the United States and April 16 against the Czech Republic. Canada will open the tournament on April 18 against Slovakia.
Goaltenders
Philippe Desrosiers
Rimouski (QMJHL)
Spencer Martin
Mississauga (OHL)
Defence
Dillon Heatherington
Swift Current (WHL)
Joe Hicketts
Victoria (WHL)
Dylan Labbé
Roland McKeown
Kingston (OHL)
Samuel Morin
Josh Morrissey
Prince Albert (WHL)
Seattle (WHL)
Forwards
Sam Bennett
Kingston (OHL)
Clark Bishop
Cape Breton (QMJHL)
Laurent Dauphin
Jason Dickinson
Guelph (OHL)
Frédérik Gauthier
Rimouski (QMJHL)
Yan-Pavel Laplante
P.E.I. (QMJHL)
Morgan Klimchuk
Regina (WHL)
Connor McDavid
Erie (OHL)
Alexis Pépin
P.E.I. (QMJHL)
Brayden Point
Moose Jaw (WHL)
Sam Reinhart
Kootenay (WHL)
Nick Ritchie
Peterborough (OHL)
Invited, unable to attend
Darnell Nurse
Sault Ste. Marie (OHL)