A look to the CHL’s future at the 2019 Canada Winter Games
The 2019 Canada Winter Games kicked off this month in Red Deer, Alta., where hockey, hosted at the Centrium, home to the Western Hockey League’s Red Deer Rebels, promises to be one of the event’s top attractions.
The tournament sees Canada’s 13 provinces and territories split between three round-robin divisions. The preliminary games have already taken place, with Quebec winning Pool A, Alberta coming out on top in Pool B, and Newfoundland and Labrador as the top squad in Pool C.
Four quarter-final games get underway Wednesday (Manitoba vs. Ontario, Nova Scotia vs. Saskatchewan, British Columbia vs. Quebec, and Alberta vs. New Brunswick), before Thursday semi-finals and Friday’s medal rounds.
Jack Campbell, a 15-year-old from Prince Edward Island who regularly suits up for the Kensington Wild Major Midget, led the preliminaries in scoring as he tallied three goals and eight assists. Brennan Othmann, a 16-year-old from Pickering, Ont., and Joshua Roy, a 15-year-old native of Saint-Georges, Que., were the other two players to reach double-digit points in the opening round.
The tournament is an opportunity for junior hockey fans, particularly those in Western Canada, to get an early glimpse at the next wave of up-and-comers. Of the four Western Canadian provinces, Team Alberta and Team Saskatchewan lead the way with 19 players each who were selected in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft.
The Alberta squad includes seven top-10 selections, including Dylan Guenther (Edmonton, 1st), Sean Tschigerl (Calgary, 4th), Colton Dach (Saskatoon, 6th), Jayden Grubbe (Red Deer, 7th), Zach Stringer (Lethbridge, 8th), Craig Armstrong (Prince George, 9th), and Kai Uchacz (Seattle, 10th). The third-overall selection, defenceman Nolan Allan, selected by the Prince Albert Raiders, was Saskatchewan’s lone top-10 pick.
There’s also 16 drafted players from British Columbia, including forward Logan Stankoven, who went fifth overall to the Kamloops Blazers, as well as 15 selections from Manitoba, including blue-liner Carson Lambos, who was taken with the second-overall pick by the Kootenay ICE.
Players on Team Ontario will be eligible for April’s OHL Priority Selection, while Quebec and Maritimes talent will be picked in May’s QMJHL Entry Draft.
The players follow in the footsteps of several Canadian Hockey League alumni who have previously competed in the Canada Winter Games, including Nathan MacKinnon (Halifax), Steven Stamkos (Sarnia), Jordan Eberle (Regina), Sidney Crosby (Rimouski), and Chris Pronger (Peterborough).
This year, Ontario will look to repeat its first-place finish at the 2015 Canada Winter Games when it defeated Team Alberta in the final by a 3-1 score. That game saw four players who all now compete in the CHL provide the offence, as Ryan McLeod (Saginaw), Nick Suzuki (Guelph), and Zachary Gallant (Peterborough) tallied for Ontario, while Zane Franklin (Kamloops) picked up the lone tally for the Albertans.
For complete tournament schedule information, visit CanadaGames.ca.