Attack trio invited to play in World U17 Challenge
CALGARY, Alta. – Dreams will come true for the 66 young men who’ve been selected to represent Canada in their first international competition when they take to the ice at the 2015 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, Oct. 30 to Nov. 7 in Dawson Creek and Fort St. John, B.C.
Markus Phillips, Nick Suzuki and Matthew Struthers will all dawn the Canadian sweater for the Canadian entries, which is comprised of three teams of 1999 born players from across the Country.
Canada White, Canada Black and Canada Red will take part in the tournament with the United States, Sweden, Russia, Finland and the Czech Republic. The 22-game tournament will officially kick off Nov. 1 at the Encana Events Centre in Dawson Creek with Canada Black taking on Canada White, while Canada Red opens its tournament against Finland at the North Peace Arena in Fort St. John. Both cities will also host two pre-tournament games on Oct. 30.
Phillips, Suzuki and Struthers were the first three players taken in the 2015 OHL Priority Selection by Dale DeGray this past Spring and all three shone at the Summer Evaluation camp.
Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League released the full event roster on Friday; over the next few weeks, the Canadians will be named to one of three squads – Canada Black, Canada Red, and Canada White. Prior to 2014, Canada was represented by five regional teams: Atlantic, Ontario, Pacific, Quebec, and West.
“We have had a chance to get a look at these players through this summer’s development camp, and as they started their season”, said Ryan Jankowski, Hockey Canada’s director of player personnel. “We have assembled a strong group for the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.”
The 66 players were selected by Jankowski, together with Joël Bouchard, a member of Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence management group, and regional scouts Carl Bouchard (Quebec), Barclay Branch (Ontario), Wade Klippenstein (West), Kevin Mitchell (Atlantic) and Darrell Woodley (Ontario). These same gentlemen are charged with making up the three Team Canada rosters, which will be announced the week prior to the tournament’s start.
The Owen Sound Attack is one of only four teams across the Canadian Hockey League who have three players selected to participate.
“We’re both happy and proud of these three young men.”, said Attack General Manager Dale DeGray. “Markus, Nick and Matthew have all integrated themselves well into the Ontario Hockey League and into our organization and it’s a great reward for them to have this experience.”
Since the first World Under-17 Hockey Challenge (then known as the Quebec Esso Cup) in 1986, more than 1,500 NHL draft picks have played in the tournament, including 12 of the last 15 first-overall selections (Ilya Kovalchuk, 2001; Rick Nash, 2002; Marc-André Fleury, 2003; Alexander Ovechkin, 2004; Erik Johnson, 2006; Patrick Kane, 2007; John Tavares, 2009; Taylor Hall, 2010; Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 2011; Nathan MacKinnon, 2013; Aaron Ekblad, 2014; Connor McDavid, 2015).
For more information on the 2015 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, visit www.hockeycanada.ca/wu17 or follow along via social media at www.facebook.com/worldu17 or www.twitter.com/hc_wu17.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Lisa Dornan Francis Dupont
Director, Communications Manager, Media Relations
Hockey Canada Hockey Canada
(403) 510-7046 (587) 999-5681
[email protected] [email protected]
Morgan Bell Esther Madziya
Coordinator, Media Relations Coordinator, Media Relations
Hockey Canada Hockey Canada
(403) 669-1261 (403) 519-5754
[email protected] [email protected]
