Thursday, November 01, 2012
Hockey Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Junior Hockey League, announced Thursday, November 1, 2012 the 22 players that will represent Canada West at the 2012 World Junior A Challenge, November 5-11, 2012 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.
The roster was selected by Canada West head coach Dean Brockman (St. Benedict, Saskatchewan), along with assistant coaches Jason McKee (Irma, Alberta) and Ryan Smith (Headingly, Manitoba) following a four (4) day selection camp at the Markin MacPhail Centre in Calgary.
Overall, 12 BC players were chosen for the Canada West Team. They include: goalie Jonah Imoo (Surrey), defenders Troy Stecher (Richmond), Luke Ripley (Kitimat), Nolan De Jong (Victoria), Devon Toews (Abbotsford) and forwards Seb Lloyd (Prince George), Alex Kerfoot (West Vancouver), Aaron Hadley (Castlegar), Brandon Morley (Burnaby), Wade Murphy (Victoria), Evan Richardson (Nanaimo) and Evan Tironese (Qualicum Beach).
Players named to the Canada West roster were selected from the CJHL’s five (5) western Junior A leagues: the BC Hockey League (BCHL), Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL), Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL), Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) and Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL).
“As with any Team Canada roster, there were a number of difficult choices to get us to 22 players,” said Brockman. “We’re excited about the roster we’ve put together, and we’re confident this team will represent western Canada with pride in Yarmouth.”
The 2012 World Junior A Challenge will be held at the Mariners Centre in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Canada West will play in Group A, joined by the Czech Republic and Russia, while Canada East, Switzerland and the United States will comprise Group B.
Preliminary round play will run until Wednesday, November 7, 2012, with both semifinals taking place Friday, November 9, 2012. The gold medal game, which will be shown nationally on TSN/RDS, the official broadcasters of Hockey Canada, is set for Sunday, November 11, 2012 (check your local listings). All preliminary round games, quarterfinals, semifinals and the bronze medal game can be seen live via webcast through FASTHockey at hockeycanada.fasthockey.com.
Canada West has appeared in five (5) of the (6) gold medal games at the World Junior A Challenge, winning gold in 2006 in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, 2007 in Trail, BC and last year in Langley, BC. The team settled for silver in 2008 in Camrose, Alberta and 2009 in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, and finished fourth in 2010 in Penticton, BC.
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