Trio of Broncos invited to Hockey Canada Summer Showcase
Three Swift Current Broncos players will join 66 Western Hockey League players at Hockey Canada’s National Team Summer Showcase, a series of development and selection camps that kick off the 2017-18 season.
Broncos forwards Logan Barlage and Riley Stotts as well as prospect blue liner Jacson Alexander were chosen amongst the 66 players. Barlage and Alexander will participate in Canada’s National Under-17 Development Camp while Stotts will take part in Canada’s National Under-18 Development Camp.
“For about three-and-a-half weeks in July and August, we get to see all of our players in our program concentrated in two locations, which gives our management team, coaches, and staff a chance to develop, first and foremost, what we feel is our top talent in Canada, and evaluate those players as we look to put together winning teams throughout the upcoming season,” said Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada’s vice-president of hockey operations and national teams. “It’s a great opportunity for these players who are working towards earning a chance to wear the Team Canada jersey, and I want to thank Ryan [Jankowski] and his team for the diligence they’ve put into helping us identify this group of players.”
Jankowski, director of player personnel for Hockey Canada, was responsible for all player selections, with assistance from regional scouts Carl Bouchard (Quebec), Barclay Branch (Ontario), Barclay Parneta (West), Kevin Mitchell (Atlantic), and Darrell Woodley (Ontario), Canadian Hockey League general managers and branch representatives for the under-17 roster, and with input from coaches and general managers from across the CHL for the under-18 and under-20 roster.
Beginning July 22, 111 players will assemble in Calgary for the under-17 development camp. From there, 44 players will vie for a spot on Canada’s National Men’s Under-18 Team during a five—day selection camp before leaving Calgary on August 2 following final roster decisions to compete at the 2017 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup.
Finally, 42 prospects looking to earn an invitation to December’s National Junior Team selection camp will make their way to Plymouth, Mich., for Canada’s National Junior Team Sport Chek Summer Development Camp.
The schedules for each camp will be revealed in a few weeks; all on-ice activities in Calgary at the under-17 and under-18 camps will be held at the Markin MacPhail Centre at WinSport, and will be free and open to the public.
Jankowski and his group will continue the evaluation process when the players return to their home clubs, with an eye to fielding the best in Canadian talent at the 2017 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Dawson Creek and Fort St. John, B.C., the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship in Buffalo, N.Y., in December, and the 2018 IIHF U18 World Championship next spring.
For more information on Hockey Canada and the Program of Excellence, please visit HockeyCanada.ca or follow along on social media on Facebook, Twitter, and Twitter.com/HC_Men.
