Hockey Canada has announced the three Canadian rosters – Team Canada Black, Team Canada Red and Team Canada White – that will compete at the 2022 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, Nov. 3-12 in Langley and Delta, B.C. The rosters include 15 Greater Toronto Hockey League alumni.
The tournament, which returns for the first time since 2019, will feature three Canadian teams matching up against Czechia, Finland, Sweden and the United States.
The players chosen to represent Canada at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge were selected by Alan Millar (Tottenham, Ont.), director of player personnel, Byron Bonora (Brooks, Alta.), U17 head scout, and Dave Brown (Niagara, Ont./Erie, OHL), U17 Program of Excellence management group lead, with assistance from regional scouts Darrell Woodley (Kitchener, Ont./Ontario Hockey League), Rob Simpson (Cobourg, Ont./London, OHL), Pierre Cholette (Lévis, Que./Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) and Darren Sutherland (Halifax, N.S./Blainville, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League). Scott Salmond (Creston, B.C.), senior vice-president of hockey operations, also provided input.
“After a strong camp in Calgary where we introduced 100 young players to the Program of Excellence this summer, we are thrilled to unveil the 66 who will wear the Maple Leaf with our three Canadian teams at this year’s World Under-17 Hockey Challenge,” said Millar. “We are fortunate to be able to assemble three competitive and skilled teams, and we are confident every player and staff member will represent our country with pride in Langley and Delta next month.”
Each team of the seven teams will play six preliminary-round games from Nov. 3-11, with the top four in the standings advancing to the medal round. The Langley Events Centre will host 16 games, including three all-Canadian matchups and both medal-round games on Nov. 12. The seven remaining games will be played at Sungod Arena in Delta, beginning with Team Canada White facing Sweden on Nov. 3.
Hockey Canada has also announced the coaching staffs that will work with the three Canadian teams at the event. Mark O’Leary (Owen Sound, Ont./Moose Jaw, WHL) will head Team Canada Black, with Greg Walters (Toronto, Ont./Owen Sound, OHL) leading Team Canada Red and Bruce Richardson (Montréal, Que./Blainville-Boisbriand, QMJHL) serving as head coach of Team Canada White.
Joining O’Leary’s staff will be assistant coaches Rick Steadman (Oil Springs, Ont./London, OHL) and Carl Mallette (Montréal, Que./Victoriaville, QMJHL), as well as goaltending coach Jason Barron (St. Catharines, Ont./Niagara, OHL). Assistants Ryan Smith (Headingley, Man./Spokane, WHL) and Brad Yetman (Mount Pearl, N.L./Rouyn-Noranda, QMJHL), as well as goaltending coach Steve Mongrain (Proulxville, Que./Shawinigan, QMHL), will round out Walters’ staff. Richardson will be joined behind the bench by assistant Devan Praught (Summerside, P.E.I./Swift Current, WHL) along with goaltending coach Byron Spriggs (Winnipeg, Man./Winnipeg, WHL).
TSN and RDS, the official broadcasters of Hockey Canada, will provide coverage of the 2022 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. Broadcast schedules will be announced in the coming weeks.
More than 1,800 NHL draft picks have suited up since the inception of the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge (previously known as the Quebec Esso Cup) in 1986, including 16 first-overall draft picks since 2001 (Ilya Kovalchuk, 2001; Rick Nash, 2002; Marc-André Fleury, 2003; Alexander Ovechkin, 2004; Erik Johnson, 2006; Patrick Kane, 2007; John Tavares, 2009; Taylor Hall, 2010, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 2011; Nathan MacKinnon, 2013; Aaron Ekblad, 2014; Connor McDavid, 2015; Auston Matthews, 2016; Jack Hughes, 2019; Alexis Lafrenière, 2020; Owen Power, 2021).
For more information on the Hockey Canada and the 2022 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, please visit HockeyCanada.ca.
GTHL ALUMNI:
Canada – Team Black (7)
- Bode Stewart (Mississauga Senators)
- Christopher Brown (North York Rangers)
- Malcolm Spence (Mississauga Senators)
- Sam Dickinson (Toronto Marlboros)
- Matthew Virgilio (Toronto Marlboros)
- Zayne Parekh (Markham Majors)
- Ryerson Leenders (Toronto Young Nationals)
Canada – Team Red (5)
- Porter Martone (Toronto Jr. Canadiens)
- Michael Misa (Mississauga Senators)
- Gabriel Frasca (Mississauga Senators)
- Anthony Cristoforo (Toronto Jr. Canadiens)
- David Bedkowski (Toronto Young Nationals)
Canada – Team White (3)
- Beckett Sennecke (Toronto Marlboros)
- Jack Van Volsen (Toronto Jr. Canadiens)
- Henry Mews (Toronto Jr. Canadiens)
