22 players named to Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team

22 players will head to Europe in search of Canada’s eighth consecutive gold medal.

CALGARY, Alta. – Twenty-two young Canadians are set to represent their country at the 2015 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup, Aug. 10-15 in Breclav, Czech Republic, and Bratislava, Slovakia. Hockey Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Hockey League, announced the players who will comprise Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team on Tuesday.

The roster was selected following a five-day selection camp that included daily practices and three Red-White intrasquad games during Hockey Canada’s National Teams’ Summer Showcase at the Markin MacPhail Centre at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park in Calgary.

Canada’s roster is made up of 13 forwards, seven defencemen and two goaltenders. Ryan Jankowski, director of player personnel for Hockey Canada, alongside Dale DeGray, a member of the management group with Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence, and head coach Stan Butler (Toronto, Ont./North Bay, OHL), assembled the roster with support from assistant coaches Shaun Clouston (Viking, Alta./Medicine Hat, WHL) and Darren Rumble (Barrie, Ont./Moncton, QMJHL).

“This is a skilled group of players that will represent Canada and be ready to compete," Butler said. "We look forward to getting the group together to travel to Europe and prepare for the tournament.”

Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team breakdown

• two goaltenders, seven defencemen and 13 forwards
• 20 players from the Canadian Hockey League
• 12 players from the Western Hockey League (Bean, Benson, Clague, Dube, Hart, Howden, Kaspick,  Mahura, Malenstyn, Patrick, Quenneville, Steel)
• six players from the Ontario Hockey League (Bitten, Kyrou, Mete, McLeod, Poirier, Wells)
• two players from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (Dubois, Girard)
• two players from the British Columbia Hockey League (Fabbro, Jost)
• 22 players with experience in Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence
• three players who won a bronze medal as under-agers with Canada’s National Men’s Under-18 Team at the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship in Zug, Switzerland (Benson, Dubois, Howden)

Canada has won the annual summer under-18 tournament seven consecutive years, and has won 19 of 24 tournaments since 1991. It will play in Group A in Breclav with Czech Republic, Sweden and Switzerland. Group B, which consists of Finland, Russia, Slovakia and the United States, will play out of Bratislava.

Canada will face Slovakia in a pre-tournament game in Trnava, Slovakia on Saturday, Aug. 8 before opening the tournament against the Czech Republic on Monday, Aug. 10. The top two teams from each group advance to the semifinals on Friday, Aug. 14, with the gold medal game scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 15.

All of Canada’s preliminary round games at the 2015 U18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup will be available online. To watch the games, CLICK HERE.

MEDIA AVAILABILITY: Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team will be available for interviews on Tuesday, Aug. 4 from 6-7 p.m. MT and following practice on Wednesday, Aug. 5 from 10:15-10:45 a.m. MT at the Markin MacPhail Centre. For all interview requests please contact Morgan Bell, Hockey Canada’s coordinator of media relations, at 403-669-1261 or by email at mbell@hockeycanada.ca.

For more information on Hockey Canada and Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team, please visit www.hockeycanada.ca, or follow along through social media at www.facebook.com/hockeycanada, www.twitter.com/hockeycanada and www.twitter.com/hc_men.