Hockey Canada announced its 30 player World Junior selection camp roster on Tuesday, as the team prepares to open camp on Sunday December 10th.
Canada is looking for a three-peat of gold medals at the tournament which will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden this year. The roster will eventually be trimmed down to 23 active players (20 skaters, 3 goalies) before travelling across the Atlantic, but will be featuring multiple new faces after turning over most of its roster from 2022.
While Connor Bedard, Adam Fantilli, Kevin Korchinski, Zach Benson, Shane Wright, and Matthew Poitras are still technically age eligible, they haven’t been released from their pro-teams for participation this year. However, 19 year old defenseman Tristan Luneau has been loaned to Team Canada from the Anaheim Ducks after appearing in 5 contests (1G, 2A) with the NHL franchise.
Some of the names to keep an eye on heading into the tournament are Buffalo Sabres draft pick Matt Savoie, Coyotes draftee Conor Geekie, and projected 2024 number 1 pick Macklin Celebrini.
Sarnia Sting head coach Alan Letang has been tapped to lead the Canadians for this year’s edition of the Holiday Classic. Here’s who else has been invited to camp:
Forwards
Owen Allard, Denver Barkey (PHI), Owen Beck (MTL), Macklin Celebrini (2024), Easton Cowan (TOR), Nate Danielson (DET), Jordan Dumais (CBJ), Jagger Firkus (CAR), Conor Geekie (ARI), Paul Ludwinski (CHI), Fraser Minten (TOR), Carson Rehkopf (SEA), Matt Savoie (BUF), Markus Vidicek, Matthew Wood (NSH), Brayden Yager (PIT)
Defensemen
Oliver Bonk (PHI), Michael Buchinger (STL), Jorian Donovan (OTT), Jake Furlong (SJS_, Maveric Lamoureux (ARI), Tristan Luneau (ANA), Denton Mateychuk (CBJ), Tanner Molendyk (NSH), Ty Nelson (SEA), Noah Warren (ANA)
Goalies
Domenic Divicentis (WPG), Scott Ratzlaff (BUF), Mathis Rousseau, Samuel St.-Hilaire
Photo: Christophe95. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.