Canada's World Junior squad making their list and checking it twice

Canada's Christmas holiday tradition is almost upon us once again, the World Junior Hockey Championship this year will take place in Calgary and Edmonton, hotbeds of the sport that will guarantee perhaps the best media footprint yet in the history of the tournament.

Over the years, this has very much become Canada's tournament, our bowl season wrapped up in a ten day flurry of hockey that brings the most promising of junior players together in a high tempo tournament.

When the world Juniors are in Canada, the crowds are large, the media attention overwhelming, something that isn't always the case when the tournament makes its return to Europe, hence the more frequent appearances in Canada over the last number of years.

IIHF organizers clearly realize that when the tournament is hosted in Canada, the game is the winner, as the players perform in front of knowledgeable and large crowds, something that adds to the lustre of the event providing the ultimate test under pressure.

Of course, no team plays under the cloak of that pressure more than the Canadian team, every year they take to the ice the target of the majority of the tournament participants, many of those countries may not win the championship, but knock off Canada and the rest of the tournament at times is a bonus.

With that realization, defending the nation's hockey honour is always one of the key aspects of a Canadian junior team, towards that goal, Team Canada's management group have sent out the call to invitees, with lots of spots available for the taking to those that impress the coaches the most.

With a number of last years team currently on NHL lineups, three's a very good chance that some familiar names of the last few years will be missing from the roster this December, among them Sean Coutrurier, Ryan Nugent Hopkins and Devante Smith-Pelly to name a few.

The selection camp comes along starting on December 10th, 41 players seeking to find their place in Canadian World Junior History.

The tournament gets underway on Boxing Day, with games in both Calgary and Edmonton.

IIHF World Junior home page
Hockey Canada World Junior page
TSN World Junior home page


World Junior schedule

TSN-- Three returnees Highlight Canada's WJHC Selection roster 
TSN-- Canada Junior Team could get some NHL assistance
CBC Sports-- Visentin returns to Canada's world juniors selection roster
Toronto Sun-- World Junior tourney a starting point
Toronto Sun-- World Juniors won't include Percy, Anderson
Toronto Sun-- Hockey Canada's World Junior camp unveiled
Toronto Sun-- Scheifele invited to World Junior camp
Vancouver Sun-- Hay eyeing another junior gold medal
Edmonton Sun-- Nugent-Hopkins recalls Worlds disappointment
Toronto Star-- Canadian junior team hit by injury bug
Globe and Mail-- Hockey Canada unveils camp roster for the world junior hockey championship
National Post-- Canada opts for finesse with World Juniors