SARNIA, Ontario - Hockey Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Hockey League, convened Thursday afternoon to unveil the three team roster composed of 66 players for the upcoming 2014 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge set to commence November 2-8 in Sarnia-Lambton.
The tournament will be the first to feature three Canadian national teams – Black, Red and White. From 1986 to 2014, Canada was represented by five regional teams: Atlantic, Ontario, Pacific, Quebec and West. The new format will have players from across the nation scattered on three competitive teams and suiting up against national teams from Finland, Sweden, Russia, Slovakia and the United States.
Historically, many of today’s NHL stars have come through the Under-17 World Hockey Challenge and feature names like Aaron Ekblad, Sam Reinhart, Nathan Mackinnon, Jonathan Drouin, Seth Jones, Ryan Murray, Morgan Rielly, Ryan-Nugent Hopkins, Taylor Hall, Tyler Seguin, John Tavares, Matt Duchene, Drew Doughty, Patrick Kane, Alexander Ovechkin, among many, many others.
The 66 players (listed below) were selected by Ryan Jankowski, Hockey Canada’s head scout of men’s national teams, together with Joel Bouchard, a member of Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence management group, and regional scouts Donald Audette (Quebec), Brad McEwen (West), Kevin Mitchell (Atlantic) and Kyle Raftis (Ontario).
The 24-game World Under-17 Hockey Challenge (#U17WHC) will be centered out of the RBC Centre, home of the OHL’s Sarnia Sting, but will also feature games at The Shores Recreation Centre in Lambton Shores, ON. Those two communities, along with Petrolia, ON and Watford, ON will host pre-tournament games on October 31st.
The host city of Sarnia will be represented by Jakob Chychrun, an offensive defenseman who was draft 1st overall at the 2014 OHL Priority Selection Draft, and forward Jordan Kyrou.
Jordan Kyrou, drafted 38th overall last year by the Sarnia Sting, was the only player who didn’t participate in the Under-17 Summer Development Camp that was named to the roster.
Chychrun will be returning to the tournament, along with Sean Day, Mitchell Balmas and Tyler Benson, as the only players who competed in last year’s Under-17 team. Chychrun netted one goal and four points while representing for Team Ontario. Both Kyrou and Chychrun will compete for Team White at this year’s event.
For complete rosters, scroll to the bottom.
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I was able to sit down with Jakob Chychrun and talk about his excitement for this event, as well as for the Sarnia Sting home opener. The high-profiled defender will make his home debut Friday as the Sarnia Sting look to celebrate their 20th anniversary in the Ontario Hockey League.
Ross: Congrats on being named to the U17 Team again Jakob! Tell me about how your experience from last year’s U17WHC will carry over to this year’s squad?
Chychrun: Last year was a great experience as I got to know some of the older kids and they taught me a lot about coming into the league this year which helped a lot. A little more experience from last year will help me feel more comfortable and help me ease into the games easier than last year.
Ross: Last year you played on the Ontario team. With the format changing this year, you will be playing with players from the other two leagues. Are you looking forward to that and meeting all of the new players?
Chychrun: Absolutely. At camp, it was a great experience as we got to know players from the other provinces. I think this year will be something special with the new format. Teams will be divided evenly and there will be great talents on each team. I’m looking forward to seeing the rosters.
Ross: Playing in the GTHL, I have watched you play a lot. Now, you get a chance to play alongside some of these players from last year on the same team. Can you speak about some of these guys and the relationships you’ve formed?
Chychrun: For sure. Obviously, [Travis] Baron was my captain last year [with the Toronto Jr. Canadiens]. I texted him Wednesday night when I found out he was on my team and we were both pretty excited. He’s a great kid. He’s a leader. I’m not sure too many other people on my team yet. Obviously, Jordan [Kyrou] is on my team. We’re teammates this year and we’re great buddies. That will help for sure with the chemistry aspect of things. I’ll take a look at the rosters and I’m sure there will be some more familiar faces.
Ross: Jakob, you have the Sarnia Sting home opener Friday night, where you officially make your home ice debut in Sarnia. What’s that experience going to be like in this building for you?
Chychrun: It should be pretty electric. It’s going to be the hot ticket in town and I think there’s supposed to be a tailgating thing beforehand which should draw more people in. We’re coming off a 0-1-1 start and we’re hungry for a win. We took our tape from the last couple games and we developed on the things we did wrong in practice and we developed and got better as a team. We worked on our systems a bit more and were just going to come with a lot of energy and intensity. We’re ready to go!”
CHL Players in 2014 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge:
Goaltenders:
Reilly Pickard (Baie-Comeau Drakkar)
Stuart Skinner (Lethbridge Hurricanes)
Defencemen:
Jake Bean (Calgary Hitmen)
Kyle Clague (Brandon Wheat Kings)
Samuel Girard (Shawinigan Cataractes)
Ryely McKinstry (Vancouver Giants)
Jacob Neveu (Rouyn-Noranda Huskies)
Tyler Nother (London Knights)
Reagan O’Grady (Kingston Frontenacs)
Forwards:
Tyler Benson (Vancouver Giants)
Matthew Hotchkiss (Guelph Storm)
Pierre-Luc Dubois (Cape Breton Screaming Eagles)
Pascal Laberge (Gatineau Olympiques)
Felix Lauzon (Victoriaville Tigres)
Beck Malenstyn (Calgary Hitmen)
Christopher Paquette (Niagara IceDogs)
Zach Poirier (North Bay Battalion)
Cliff Pu (Oshawa Generals)
Brandon Saigeon (Belleville Bulls)
Sam Steel (Regina Pats)
Lucas Thierus (Sherbrooke Phoenix)
Nolan Volcan (Seattle Thunderbirds)
Goaltenders:
Evan Fitzpatrick (Sherbrooke Phoenix)
Dylan Wells (Peterborough Petes)
Defencemen:
Guillaume Beck (Victoriaville Tigres)
Sean Day (Mississauga Steelheads)
Thomas Gregoire (Sherbrooke Phoenix)
Victor Mete (Owen Sound Attack)
Logan Stanley (Windsor Spitfires)
Matthew Timms (Peterborough Petes)
Forwards:
William Bitten (Plymouth Whalers)
Logan Brown (Windsor Spitfires)
Tye Felhaber (Saginaw Spirit)
Noah Gregor (Moose Jaw Warriors)
Samuel Guilbault (Charlottetown Islanders)
Tyler Hylland (Blainville-Boisbriand Armada)
Jake Kryski (Kamloops Blazers)
Adam Mascherin (Kitchener Rangers)
Michael McLeod (Mississauga Steelheads)
Nolan Patrick (Brandon Wheat Kings)
Miguel Picard (Blainville-Boisbriand Armada)
Mason Shaw (Medicine Hat Tigers)
Givani Smith (Barrie Colts)
Goaltenders:
Samuel Harvey (Rouyn-Noranda Huskies)
Ryan Kubic (Vancouver Giants)
Defencemen:
Josh Anderson (Prince George Cougars)
Gabriel Bilodeau (Val-d’Or Foreurs)
Jakob Chychrun (Sarnia Sting)
Luke Green (Saint John Sea Dogs)
Josh Mahura (Red Deer Rebels)
David Quenneville (Medicine Hat Tigers)
Forwards:
Jonathan Ang (Peterborough Petes)
Travis Barron (Ottawa 67’s)
Dillon Dube (Kelowna Rockets)
Brett Howden (Moose Jaw Warriors)
Tanner Kaspick (Brandon Wheat Kings)
Alexander Katerinakis (Blainville-Boisbriand Armada)
Jordan Kyrou (Sarnia Sting)
Jordan Maher (Acadie-Bathurst Titan)
Hunter Moreau (Rimouski Oceanic)
Michael Pezzetta (Sudbury Wolves)
Taylor Raddysh (Erie Otters)