IceDogs Carter Verhaeghe Named to Team Canada WU18

IceDogs forward Carter Verhaeghe has been named to Canada’s U18 team and will be headed to Sochi, Russia on Wednesday to join the rest of Team Canada for the 2013 IIHF World U18 Championship, which gets underway on Thursday with the start of the preliminary round.  Verhaeghe becomes only the second Niagara IceDog named to the spring U18 Canadian team, with Freddie Hamilton being the other back in 2010.

Verhaeghe enjoyed a breakout year in his sophomore season with the IceDogs, picking up 18 goals and 26 assists for 44 points in 67 regular season games, before adding 2 goals and 2 assists for 4 points in 5 playoff games.  His 44 regular season points nearly tripled his point total from his rookie season, while the 4 playoff points were one more than he had in 19 playoff games during his rookie season.  Overall, Verhaeghe finished fourth in team scoring behind only the top line of Ryan Strome, Brett Ritchie and Steven Shipley.

The 17-year-old Waterdown native is eligible for the 2013 NHL Entry Draft coming up on June 30th at the Prudential Centre in Newark, New Jersey where he will hope to hear his name called by one of the 30 NHL teams.  With his strong play down the stretch and in the playoffs, Verhaeghe should certainly have helped improve his draft stock, after being ranked 122nd by NHL Central Scouting in their midterm rankings.

The entire IceDogs organization would like to congratulate Carter on his selection to Team Canada and we wish him and the rest of Team Canada the best of luck at the U18 World Championship!