McIvor receives under-18 invitation
BRAMPTON, Ont. – Defenceman Marcus McIvor of the Brampton Battalion is one of 19 Ontario Hockey League players invited to the Canadian under-18 team selection camp, Hockey Canada announced Wednesday.
A total of 42 players have been invited to the camp, scheduled to run July 30 to Aug. 2 at Father David Bauer Olympic Arena in Calgary. Twenty-two players will be chosen to represent Canada in the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament Aug. 8-13 in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
McIvor, a resident of Whitby, Ont., who turned 17 on May 20, is one of six OHL defencemen to be invited. He was the Battalion’s first-round choice in the 2010 OHL Priority Selection, scoring one goal and adding 13 assists for 14 points in 62 games in his rookie season.
Other OHL rearguards set to attend the camp are Gianluca Curcuruto of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, Matt Finn of the Guelph Storm, Jesse Graham of the Niagara IceDogs, Slater Koekkoek of the Peterborough Petes and Adam Pelech of the Erie Otters.
The camp roster of 1994-born players features 40 hopefuls from the Canadian Hockey League, including 15 from the Western Hockey League and six from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Steve Spott of the Kitchener Rangers is head coach of the Canadian team, assisted by Mario Duhamel of the QMJHL’s Drummondville Voltigeurs and Don Nachbaur of the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets. They helped Kevin Prendergast, head scout for Hockey Canada, in identifying players to be invited to Calgary.
McIvor, six-foot-one and 204 pounds, was a member of the title-winning Ontario team at the 2011 World Under-17 Challenge at Winnipeg. Thirty-seven players invited to the Canadian camp took part in that tournament.