Jason La Rose
The roster is out, and 113 Canadians have earned invites to the virtual national under-17 development camp from July 19-25. The camp is the first step towards the 2020 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge this fall.
Let’s take a look at a few facts and figures:
1 – under-age player; Connor Bedard is just the fourth 15-year-old (he doesn’t turn 15 until two days before camp starts) to earn an invite to summer camp, joining Matthew Savoie (2019), Joe Veleno (2015) and Shane Wright (2019)
1 – returning player; Matthew Savoie posted a goal and five assists in six games as an under-ager to help Canada White to a fourth-place finish at the 2019 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge
4 – players drafted first overall in their respective CHL drafts (Connor Bedard – Regina, WHL, 2020; Tristan Luneau – Gatineau, QMJHL, 2020; Ty Nelson – North Bay, OHL, 2020; Matthew Savoie – Winnipeg, WHL, 2019)
5 – members of the Quinte Red Devils (Owen Beck, Aaron Brown, Cooper Matthews, Donovan McCoy, Dalyn Wakely) during the 2019-20 season, most of any minor hockey team
5 – sons of former NHLers; the fathers of Jorian Donovan (Shean), Mats Lindgren (Mats), Josh Niedermayer (Scott), Landon Sim (Jon) and Colton Smith (D.J.) combined for 1,250 points (434-822—1250) in 3,115 NHL games
5’11” 164 – average height and weight of the players; Noah Warren (6’4” 203) is the largest player, and Justin Côté (5’5” 139) is the smallest
6 – players who helped Saskatchewan win its first-ever gold medal at the 2019 WHL Cup (Dylan Ernst, Kyren Gronick, Kevin Korchinski, Jhett Larson, Hunter Mayo, Kalem Parker); Larson, Mayo and Parker recorded an assist each and Ernst made 21 saves in a 4-2 win over Manitoba in the final
17 – players who helped Canada win the bronze medal at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland (Justin Côté, Nate Danielson, Kocha Delic, Dylan Ernst, Adam Fantilli, Vincent Filion, Pano Fimis, Cédrick Guindon, Matthew Jovanovic, Mats Lindgren, Paul Ludwinski, Tristan Luneau, Denton Mateychuk, Ty Nelson, Matthew Savoie, Antonin Verreault, Noah Warren)
40 – players from the Ontario Hockey Federation, more than any other Member (Hockey Quebec – 18; B.C. Hockey – 13; Hockey Alberta – 10; Hockey Eastern Ontario – 7; Hockey Manitoba – 6; Hockey Nova Scotia – 6; Saskatchewan Hockey Association – 6; Hockey New Brunswick – 3; Hockey P.E.I. – 2; Hockey Newfoundland & Labrador – 1)
49 – Canadian Hockey League teams, out of 60, represented with prospects (OHL – 19/20; WHL – 17/22; QMJHL – 13/18); the London Knights (OHL) have six picks, followed by the Voltigeurs de Drummondville (QMJHL) with five
353 – population (according to the 2016 Census of Canada) of Dominion City, Man., hometown of defenceman Denton Mateychuk and the smallest of the 92 hometowns represented
6,635 – kilometres (according to Google Maps) from Victoria, B.C. (hometown of Jason Spizawka) to Bay Roberts, N.L. (hometown of Riley Mercer) and the distance between the westernmost and easternmost hometowns represented