CALGARY, AB – Hockey Canada, in collaboration with the Canadian Hockey League, announced on Friday that forty-four of Canada’s top players under the age of 18 (born in 1989 or later) have been invited to attend Canada’s 2006 National Summer Under-18 Team Selection Camp from  July 28- in Calgary, AB.  These players will all be vying for one of twenty-two spots on Canada’s 2006 National Summer Under-18 Team which will take part in the Under-18 Junior World Cup from August 8-12, in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

The National Summer Under-18 Selection Camp will be under the direction of Head Coach Cory Clouston (Viking, AB/ Kootenay, WHL) and assistant coaches Dave Hunchak (Warman, SK/Swift Current, WHL) and Jeff Truitt (Rosetown, SK/ Kelowna, WHL), who will select the final roster on August 2nd, prior to Team Canada departing for Europe on August 3rd.

Canada’s National Summer Under-18 Team is one of two Under-18 Teams that Hockey Canada operates on an annual basis. In April, Canada’s World Championship Under-18 Team, comprised of players and staff members not involved in their respective league playoffs, will attend the 2007 IIHF World Under-18 Championship. 

The National Under-18 Program is a significant part of Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence, which consists of:

1. The Regional/Provincial Under-17 Teams (that take part in either the World Under-17 Challenge or the Canada Winter Games)

2. The National Under-18 Program (Summer Under-18 Team, World Championship Team) 

3. Canada’s National Junior Team

The Program of Excellence also allows Hockey Canada to identify, evaluate and develop young hockey players to represent Canada on the international stage at events such as World Championships and the Olympics.

The fourty-four players invited to the July 2006 National Summer Under-18 Team Selection Camp were identified, evaluated and selected based on evaluation reports conducted during the 2005-06 season by Regional Under-17 team coaching staffs, performances on Under-17 and Under-18 teams at 2005-06 events, with input from the coaches on Canada’s 2006-07 National Junior and National Under-18 teams and a network of Canadian Hockey League contacts as identified by the National Junior Team Policy Committee.

Click here for the National Summer Under-18 Team Selection Camp Roster

National Summer Under-18 Team Information

League breakdown

• 17 players from the WHL
• 12 players from the QMJHL
• 11 players from the OHL
• 2 players from the CJAHL
• 2 players from U.S. programs

Hockey Canada Program of Excellence Experience

• Two(2) players (Sutter, Tavares) who were under-age members of Canada’s 2006 World Under-18 Championship Team, which finished 4th;
• 40 players that have been part of Hockey Canada’s Regional Under-17 Program;
• 6 players that won a gold medal with Team Quebec at the 2006 World Under-17 Challenge in Regina, SK;
• Four players who will be experiencing the Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence Program for the first time (Jake Fischer, Justin Leclerc, Kurtis Mucha, Colton Sceviour*)

*Sceviour was named to Team Pacific for the 2006 World Under-17 Challenge but did not attend due to injury

NHL Draft breakdown

• 39 players that are eligible for the 2007 NHL Entry Draft;
• 2 players that are eligible for the 2008 NHL Entry Draft;
• 1 player that is eligible for the 2009 NHL Entry Draft;

All forty-four players named on Thursday  are products of Canada’s minor hockey system and come from nine (9) of Hockey Canada’s 13 Provincial and Regional Branches:

• 13 players from Ontario Hockey Federation     
• 8 players from Hockey Alberta
• 7 players from Hockey Quebec
• 5 players from Saskatchewan Hockey Association
• 4 players from BC Hockey
• 4 players from Hockey Nova Scotia
• 1 player from Hockey PEI
• 1 player from Hockey New Brunswick
• 1 player from Hockey Manitoba

Click here for the National Summer Under-18 Team Selection Camp Schedule

Click here for the 2006 Under-18 Junior World Cup Game Schedule

For more information on Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence and the National Under-18 Program, visit Hockey Canada’s official website www.hockeycanada.ca.

» 2006-07 National Men's Under 18 Team | Roster | Schedule