Eleven days from the start of the 2017 World Junior Hockey Championships, Team Canada wrapped up its selection camp on Wednesday night and announced its 22-player roster for the tournament beginning December 26 in Toronto and Montreal. All three Carolina Hurricanes prospects who were invited to camp have made the roster.
Defenseman Jake Bean and forwards Nicolas Roy and Julien Gauthier will be on the roster when Canada faces Russia at the Air Canada Centre to begin the tournament. For Bean and Roy, this is their first selection to the Canadian World Junior team. Gauthier was on last year’s team that lost to host and eventual champion Finland in the quarterfinals.
Roy has 38 points in 25 games for the Chicoutimi Sagueneens of the QMJHL, tied for the team lead with newly-acquired Joey Ratelle, and Gauthier has 27 points in 23 games for the Val d’Or Foreurs. Bean spent most of the first part of the season injured after breaking a bone in his hand in October, but has at least a point in all five games since he returned to action on December 2.
The release from Hockey Canada is below.
HOCKEY CANADA NAMES ROSTER FOR 2017 IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
Twenty-two players selected to Canada’s National Junior Team following four-day selection campWith Canada’s National Junior Team Sport Chek Selection Camp rolling to a close with an 8-0 win over the Czech Republic, Hockey Canada has named the 22 players who will represent the country at the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship in Toronto and Montreal.
Five players who competed for Canada at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship - Mathew Barzal (Coquitlam, B.C./Seattle, WHL), Thomas Chabot (Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce, Que./Saint John, QMJHL), Julien Gauthier (Pointe-aux-Trembles, Que./Val-d’Or, QMJHL), Mitchell Stephens (Peterborough, Ont./Saginaw, OHL), and Dylan Strome (Mississauga, Ont./Erie, OHL) – will don the Team Canada crest for the holiday tournament. Joining them are:
Goaltenders Carter Hart (Sherwoord Park, Alta./Everett, WHL), Connor Ingram (Imperial, Sask./Kamloops, WHL);
Defencemen Jake Bean (Calgary/Calgary, WHL), Kale Clague (Lloydminster, Alta./Brandon, WHL), Dante Fabbro (Coquitlam, B.C./Boston University, HE), Noah Juulsen (Abbotsford, B.C./Everett, WHL), Jérémy Lauzon (Val-d’Or, Que./Rouyn-Noranda, QMJHL), Philippe Myers (Moncton, N.B./Rouyn-Noranda, QMJHL); and
Forwards Anthony Cirelli (Woodbrige, Ont./Oshawa, OHL), Dillon Dubé (Cochrane, Alta./Kelowna, WHL), Pierre-Luc Dubois (Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Que./Cape Breton, QMJHL), Mathieu Joseph (Chambly, Que./Saint John, QMJHL), Tyson Jost (Kelowna, B.C./U. of North Dakota, NCHC), Michael McLeod (Mississauga, Ont./Mississauga, OHL), Taylor Raddysh (Caledon, Ont./Erie, OHL), Nicolas Roy (Amos, Que./Chicoutimi, QMJHL), Blake Speers (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont./Sault Ste. Marie, OHL).
“We’ve had a great selection camp, and I can see this group of players really beginning to work together and getting better every day,” said Dominique Ducharme, head coach, Canada’s National Junior Team. “It’s never easy to make the difficult decisions of releasing players, and that’s a testament to Canada’s depth of talent. Kris, Tim and I are looking forward to continuing to work with these players to fine-tune our game and be ready when we start the tournament on Boxing Day.”
The puck will officially drop on the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship, a Canadian holiday tradition, on Dec. 26 in Montreal and Toronto. In its opening game, Canada will face Russia at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto at 8 p.m. ET.