CALGARY, Alta. – Thirty of the country’s top para hockey players are headed to Calgary from Aug. 30-Sept. 7 to take part in Canada’s National Para Hockey Team selection camp at the Markin MacPhail Centre at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park.
The nine-day selection camp will act as a part of the evaluation process to determine which players will represent Canada in international competition during the 2019-20 season. Players will participate in a number of on- and off-ice activities, including fitness testing, classroom lectures and workshops, intrasquad games and match-ups against Japan’s national team.
“We expect the level of competition to be very high,” said head coach Ken Babey (Saskatoon, Sask.). “We have a lot of up-and-coming young players who will be vying for a roster spot, so it’s going to be a very intense week ahead. We know players will rise to the occasion and show us why they should be wearing the Maple Leaf this next season.”
The selection camp roster features 15 players who brought home a silver medal from the 2018 IPC World Para Hockey Championship (Armstrong, Bridges, Cozzolino, Crane, Dunn, Henry, Hickey, Larocque, Lavin, Lehoux, McGregor, Smith, Sorley, Watson, Westlake), and 14 players who were part of Canada’s National Para Hockey Development Team for a three-game series against the United States at the 2019 Défi Sportif AlterGo in Montreal last spring (Auclair, Close, Culmone, Dolan, Duguay, Halbert, Huneault, Jacobs-Webb, Kingsmill, Kovacevich, Lambert, Leblanc, Picton, Sison).
Behind the bench, Babey will be joined by returning coaches Mike Foligno (Sudbury, Ont.) and Mike Fountain (Gravenhurst, Ont.), with support from guest coaches Maxime Gagnon (Longueuil, Que.), Greg Ireland (Orangeville, Ont.), Dan Lacroix (Shefford, Que.) and Don Nachbaur (Kitimat, B.C.).
Following the selection camp, players will participate in training and regional camps before a roster is named for the 2019 Canadian Tire Para Hockey Cup, Dec. 1-7 in Paradise, N.L.
For more information on Hockey Canada and Canada’s National Para Hockey Team, please visit HockeyCanada.ca, or follow through social media on Facebook, Twitter, and Twitter.com/HC_Para.