Nine OHL players set to represent Canada at World U18 Championship in Russia

The 2018 IIHF World Under-18 Hockey Championship is getting underway in Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk, Russia and nine OHL players will be representing Canada at the annual international showdown.

Canada is one of 10 teams in the tournament, competing in Pool A alongside the United States, Sweden, Switzerland and Belarus.

The CHL’s representation features nine OHL players, seven QMJHL competitors and five WHL participants as Canada chases its first gold at the event since 2013.

Pre-tournament action saw Canada defeat Slovakia 5-0 behind a pair of goals from Serron Noel (Oshawa Generals) on Sunday. They followed up that win with a 3-2 victory over Finland on Monday as Cam Hillis (Guelph Storm), Alexis Lafreniere (Rimouski Oceanic) and Ty Smith (Spokane Chiefs) found the back of the net.

Hockey Canada announced Thursday that Smith will serve as the team’s captain while Ty Dellandrea (Flint Firebirds), Jared McIsaac (Halifax Mooseheads) and Joe Veleno (Drummondville Voltigeurs) have been named alternates.

Canada kicks off the tournament against its cross-border rival United States on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. ET. Canada will also play against Belarus, Switzerland, and Sweden during the preliminary round. TSN, the official broadcast partner of Hockey Canada, is broadcasting 15 games, including all of Team Canada’s match-ups at the IIHF U18 World Championship.

Nine OHL players on Canada’s World Under-18 Roster:

Defencemen:
Kevin Bahl (Ottawa 67’s)^
Ryan Merkley (Guelph Storm)^

Forwards:
Ty Dellandrea (Flint Firebirds)*^
Aidan Dudas (Owen Sound Attack)^
Liam Foudy (London Knights)
Cam Hillis (Guelph Storm)
Allan McShane (Oshawa Generals)
Serron Noel (Oshawa Generals)^
Akil Thomas (Niagara IceDogs)*^

*represented Canada at the 2017 IIHF U18 World Championship
^won gold with Canada at the 2017 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament

For more coverage of the event, visit hockeycanada.ca and IIHF.com.