OHL trio named to Switzerland’s preliminary roster for 2023 World Juniors

Three OHL players are among the 28 named to Switzerland’s preliminary roster for the upcoming 2023 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship set to take place in Moncton, NB and Halifax, NS starting December 26.

Mississauga Steelheads goaltender Alessio Beglieri joins blueliners Brian Zanetti of the Peterborough Petes and Rodwin Dionicio of the Niagara IceDogs on Switzerland’s pre-tournament roster. The Swiss will take on Canada in pre-tournament action on December 19th, Czechia on December 22nd and Sweden on December 23rd.

Zanetti represented Switzerland at the 2022 World Juniors in August, recording two assists in four contests. The 6-foot-3 Philadelphia Flyers prospect has five points (2-3–5) through 24 games with Peterborough this season following a 26-point (4-22–26) campaign in maroon and white last season.

Dionicio was also part of Switzerland’s summer World Juniors squad, appearing in five games. The 6-foot-2, 203Ib. blueliner was taken by the IceDogs with the 18th overall pick of the 2021 CHL Import Draft, recording 31 points (6-25–31) in 57 games last season. He’s put up seven (3-2–5) through 14 contests in 2022-23.

Beglieri represented Switzerland at the 2022 IIHF World Under-18 Hockey Championship and is vying for his first tour of duty on the World Juniors squad. The 5-foot-11 netminder is 10-6-2-0 with a 3.58 goals-against average and .864 save percentage in 18 games with the Steelheads this season. They selected him 38th overall in the 2022 CHL Import Draft.

Switzerland comes off an eighth place finish this past summer. Their tournament gets underway on December 26th against Finland.