Canada released it's U18 roster that will try and win gold at the World Championship later this month. The club got together in Toronto today this and leave for Germany Thursday with 7 players who aren't eligible until the 2012 draft.
The full roster can be found
here.
Hockey Canada Head Scout Kevin Prendergast told us on Saturday that there could be as many as four 2012 blueliners on the team and he lived up to his prediction. Morgan Rielly (as reported on this blog Tuesday) of Moose Jaw, Slater Koekkoek of Peterborough, Cody Ceci of Ottawa and Ryan Murray of Everett are the 4 youngsters that will patrol the blueline.
Malcolm Subban who minded the twine for Belleville this year is the likely starter, and he is also a 2012 draft eligible goaltender. Up front Charles Simard-Hudon of Chicoutimi is the lone 16 year old forward.
There are 14 OHL, 2 QMJHL and 6 WHL players, which might surprise some with a WHL head coach, but with this team it's all about availability as so many teams are still involved in CHL playoffs.
I would expect Ryan Murray, who played and captained this team last year as an underaged player to wear the C again. Ryan Murphy and Mark McNeill are good choices in my opinion as assistant captains.
Canada will be trying to improve on last year's 7th place finish.
It's been a draft year like no other and not exactly on the good side for some of the top prospects for 2012. In past years we've seen the odd player go down with an injury or 2 (Brett Connolly, Jared Cowen) but this year you could field a whole line with some of the highly touted players Alex Galchenyuk, Nail Yakupov, Martin Frk, Ryan Murray and Morgan Rielly just to name 5.
Just about every hockey team in a serious, competitive league is now active for the 2011-12 season, (the ivy league schools don't get going until Halloween weekend), and already we're seeing some surprise clubs at the top of the standings. It happens every year in every league but the question is which of these overachievers can continue on with their success and which ones will eventually come back down to Earth?
The Pipeline Show received an update on the status of key 2011 eligible prospect Matt Puempel of the Peterborough Petes. The forward has been sidelined since February 21st but still finished the season as the club's top scorer with 69 points. The 6', 190 lb left winger is Peterbough's nominee for the Red Tilson Trophy which goes to the OHL's most outstanding player.
