Cameron Reid and Luca Romano named to Canada’s National Under-18 Team for 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup
Hockey Canada announced Tuesday evening that nine OHL players have been named to the National Men’s Under-18 Team that will compete in the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup taking place in Edmonton, AB from August 5-10.
The nine OHL players competing are part of a larger group of 22 Canadian Hockey League players on the roster pursuing a third straight gold medal finish for Canada at the annual event.
Team selections were made by Hockey Canada head scout Byron Bonora (Brooks, AB) and Dave Brown (Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON/Erie Otters), the U18 lead for the Program of Excellence management group, with input from Scott Salmond (Creston, BC), senior vice-president of high performance and hockey operations.
Head coach Kris Mallette (Kelowna, BC/Kelowna Rockets) and assistant coaches Gordie Dwyer (Dalhousie, NB/Acadie-Bathurst Titan) and Ryan Oulahen (Newmarket, ON/North Bay Battalion) also provided input.
Among the 22 players on the roster are five who won a gold medal with Canada’s National Men’s Under-18 Team at the 2024 IIHF U18 World Championship (Desnoyers, Hamilton, Ivankovic, McKenna, Schaefer) and seventeen that suited up at the 2023 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, including nine who won gold with Canada White (Czata, Desnoyers, Guite, Hopkins, Huang, Ivankovic, Reid, Schaefer, Schmidt).
“This is a group of accomplished athletes that have earned this opportunity to represent their country and defend a gold medal,” Brown said. “The opportunity to play for Canada on home ice isn’t something that happens often, and we’re excited for this group and what lies ahead.”
Prior to the start of the tournament, Team Canada will take on Slovakia on Aug. 1 at 7 p.m. MT/9 p.m. ET at Bill Hunter Arena, and Czechia on Aug. 3 at 7 p.m. MT/9 p.m. ET at the Downtown Community Arena.
Canada opens the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup against Switzerland on Aug. 5 at 7:30 p.m. ET/9:30 p.m. ET. It will also face Slovakia and Sweden in the preliminary round before the tournament concludes with the medal games on Aug. 10.
TSN and RDS, the official broadcast partners of Hockey Canada, will broadcast all games from Edmonton; please check local listings for more details.
Canada has won 24 gold medals in 32 years of summer under-18 competition, along with three silver medals and one bronze.
Nine OHL Players Selected to Represent Canada:
Goaltender:
Jack Ivankovic (Brampton Steelheads)
Defencemen:
Quinn Beauchesne (Guelph Storm)
Cameron Reid (Kitchener Rangers)
Matthew Schaefer (Erie Otters)
Forwards:
Ethan Czata (Niagara IceDogs)
Tyler Hopkins (Kingston Frontenacs)
Brady Martin (Soo Greyhounds)
Jake O’Brien (Brantford Bulldogs)
Luca Romano (Kitchener Rangers)
For more information on Hockey Canada and Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team, please visit HockeyCanada.ca, or follow along via social media on Facebook, X and Instagram.
