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Three members of the Moose Jaw Warriors and two Saskatoon Blades could be wearing the maple leaf at the 2024 world junior hockey championship.
On Tuesday, Hockey Canada released the 30-man roster for its world junior selection camp, which is to be held from Sunday through Dec. 13 in Oakville, Ont.
Only one invitee — Peterborough Petes forward Owen Beck — was on last year’s gold-medal-winning entry. It’s unlikely the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks will make former Regina Pats star Connor Bedard available for the 2024 tournament.
The Warriors who received an invitation were defenceman Denton Mateychuk of Dominion City, Man., and forwards Jagger Firkus of Irma, Alta., and Brayden Yager of Saskatoon.
Defenceman Tanner Molendyk of McBride, B.C., and newly acquired forward Fraser Minten of Vancouver were the Blades who were invited to the camp.
Saskatoon-born Prince George Cougars star Riley Heidt, the WHL’s leading scorer so far this season, wasn’t invited. Neither was Pats forward Tanner Howe, who hails from Prince Albert.
“We are excited to name the 30 players who will embark on the journey through camp and eventually on to the world juniors,” Naicam’s Peter Anholt, the under-20 lead for the Program of Excellence management group, said in a media release.
“Canada has an incredible talent pool of players, and there are always difficult decisions to narrow it down. We are expecting a highly competitive camp, and we look forward to naming our final roster that will wear the maple leaf with pride starting on Boxing Day.”
Hockey Canada invited four goalies, 10 defencemen and 16 forwards to the camp, which will include practices and a pair of exhibition games against a team of U Sports all-stars. Those games are set for Dec. 12 and Dec. 13.
The players who make the final Team Canada roster will travel to Malmo, Sweden on Dec. 14 for a pre-tournament camp ahead of the tournament. The Canadian squad will play exhibition games against an under-25 team from Denmark on Dec. 19, Switzerland on Dec. 22 and the United States on Dec. 23.
Canada is to begin its round-robin schedule at the tournament on Dec. 26 against Finland.
The world junior hockey championship is to run from Boxing Day until Jan. 5 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Canada is the tournament’s two-time defending champion.
