Hockey Canada will assemble prospects for its annual National Teams’ Summer Showcase, a series of development and selection camps that kick off the 2017-18 season. Beginning on July 22, players will assemble in Calgary for the national under-17 development camp. As they wind down their on- and off-ice sessions, the next group will arrive and vie for a spot on Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team during a five-day selection camp. Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team will leave Calgary on Aug. 2 following the final roster decisions to compete at the 2017 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup. Meanwhile, prospects looking to earn an invitation to selection camp in December will make their way to Plymouth, Mich., for Canada’s National Junior Team Sport Chek Summer Development Camp.
Amongst those selected to attend were nine players from Momentum Hockey. Jonah Gadjovich from the Owen Sound Attack was invited to the National Junior Team Camp, Alexis Gravel of the Halifax Mooseheads and Adam McMaster of the North Bay Battalion were invited to the Under-18 camp, and Alexis Lafreniere of the Rimouski Oceanic, Jakob Pelletier of the Moncton Wildcats, Christopher Merisier-Ortiz of the Baie-Comeau Drakkar, Mitchell Russell of the Owen Sound Attack, Thomas Pelletier of the Drummondville Voltigeurs and Kurtis Evans of the North Bay Battalion were invited to the Under-17 camp.
Ryan 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 rosters.
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 in Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk, Russia, next spring.
Source: hockeycanada.ca