3 MJHL players off to Canada West camp

CALGARY, Alta. – The Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) and NHL Central Scouting have identified a list of 44 players who have been invited to Team Canada West selection camp in advance of the 2019 World Junior A Challenge in Dawson Creek, B.C.

From Dec. 1-3, 44 Team Canada West hopefuls will gather at the Markin MacPhail Centre at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park in Calgary for three days of games and practices as part of the evaluation process.

The players were selected from the CJHL’s five western Junior A leagues: the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL), British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL), Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL), Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) and Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL). Team Canada West staff, led by head coach Joe Martin (Kingston, Ont./Alberni Valley, BCHL) and director of operations Jamie McCaig (Edmonton/Whitecourt, AJHL), will use the camp to evaluate the players before selecting the final roster for the 2019 World Junior A Challenge.

“After months of work put in to identifying players, our team is excited to bring a talented group together for selection camp, and we look forward to assembling Team Canada West for what should be a highly-competitive tournament in Dawson Creek,” said McCaig. “We know these 44 players will bring work ethic and a hard-working attitude to camp as we begin our quest for a gold medal at the 2019 World Junior A Challenge.”

Team Canada West will kick off the tournament against the United States on Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. MT when the World Junior A Challenge heads to Dawson Creek for the first time. A variety of ticket packages, including two- and four-game packages, are available for purchase starting as low as $40 plus fees at HockeyCanada.ca/Tickets or at the Tiger Box Office Plus at the Encana Events Centre.

Of the 13 gold medal games at the World Junior A Challenge, 10 have featured at least one Canadian team. Team Canada West has won gold five times (2006, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2017), silver three times (2008, 2009, 2012) and bronze twice (2013, 2018).

For more information on the 2019 World Junior A Challenge, please visit HockeyCanada.ca or follow along via social media on Facebook or Twitter.