CALGARY, Alta. – The Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) and NHL Central Scouting have identified a list of 44 players who have earned invites to Team Canada East selection camp in advance of the 2019 World Junior A Challenge in Dawson Creek, B.C.

From Aug. 7-9, 44 Team Canada East hopefuls will gather at the Benson Centre in Cornwall, Ont., for three days of games and practices as part of the evaluation process.

The players were selected from the CJHL’s five eastern Junior A leagues: the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL), Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL), Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL), Ligue de hockey junior AAA du Québec (LHJAAAQ) and Maritime Hockey League (MHL). Team Canada East staff, led by head coach Martin Dagenais (Embrun, Ont./Ottawa, CCHL) and director of operations Mark Grady (Orleans, Ont.), will use the camp to evaluate the prospects before selecting the final roster for the 2019 World Junior A Challenge.

“This marks the first year Team Canada East will host a summer selection camp, which will help the team staff evaluate and select its roster earlier than previous years and continue to evaluate the players throughout the season,” said Brent Ladds, president of the CJHL. “We are excited to start the evaluation process for Team Canada East next week, and we look forward to watching both Canadian teams compete for a gold medal at the World Junior A Challenge in December.”

Team Canada East will kick off the tournament against Russia on Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. MT when the World Junior A Challenge heads to Dawson Creek for the first time.

Of the 13 gold medal games at the World Junior A Challenge, 10 have featured at least one Canadian team. Team Canada East will look to earn its first gold medal, having won silver five times (2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2016) and bronze once (2008).

For more information on the 2019 World Junior A Challenge, please visit HockeyCanada.ca or follow along via social media on Facebook or Twitter.