CALGARY, Alberta – Hockey Canada has announced the 60 players from the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) who have earned invitations to Canada East and Canada West selection camp in advance of the 2024 Junior A World Challenge.
Six MJHL players and two MJHL staff members will make the trip to Camrose, Alberta, after it was announced on Thursday.
Reece Gault (Steinbach), Avery Laliberte (Niverville), Marlen Edwards (Northern Manitoba), Jackson Kostiuk (Steinbach), Dru Mushumanski (Waywayseecappo), and Owen Warnick (Selkirk) will vie for one of the 20 roster spots available on Team Canada West.
While it has been public knowledge that Northern Manitoba Blizzard Head Coach & General Manager, Eric Labrosse, would be behind the bench as an Assistant Coach for Canada West, Niverville Nighthawks Trainer, Justin Giesbrecht, will join Canada West once again as the team’s Physiotherapist after he was a part of the 2023 team that won Gold.
Beginning Dec.3, the invitees will gather in Calgary to participate in practices and play a pair of intrasquad games as part of the final evaluation process by management and coaching staffs.
The final East and West rosters will be named Dec. 5 in advance of the tournament, which runs from Dec. 9-15 in Camrose, Alberta.
The Canada East roster will be selected from the CJHL’s five eastern leagues: the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL), Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL), Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL), Ligue de hockey junior AAA du Québec (LHJAAAQ) and Maritime Hockey League (MHL). Canada West will include players from the four western leagues: the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL), Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL), Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) and Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL).
“This is the first time since 2022 we are taking the opportunity to hold a camp before naming our teams for the Junior A World Challenge,” said Scott Salmond, senior vice-president of high performance and hockey operations. “In partnership with the CJHL, we have identified the top 60 Junior A players in the country. We expect a competitive three days before we narrow our rosters down to the two teams that will proudly represent Canada in Camrose.”
Ahead of the tournament, the Canadian teams will play a pair of pre-tournament games on Dec. 7. Canada East will face off against Sweden at the Drumheller Memorial Arena at 3 p.m. MT, while Canada West will play the United States at 4:30 p.m. MT at Co-Op Place in Wetaskiwin.
The puck drops on the tournament Dec. 9 when Canada East, the 2023 silver medallist, opens against the United States at 3 p.m. MT, followed by Canada West, the defending gold medallist, facing Sweden at 7:30 p.m. MT.
Of the 16 gold medal games at the Junior A World Challenge, 13 have featured at least one Canadian team. Canada East will look to earn its first gold medal, having won silver eight times (2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2019, 2022, 2023) and bronze once (2008), while Canada West has won gold six times (2006, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2023), silver three times (2008, 2009, 2012) and bronze twice (2013, 2018).
For more information on Hockey Canada and the 2024 Junior A World Challenge, please visit HockeyCanada.ca/WJAC, or follow along via social media on Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok.
