RED DEER - Nine players from Team Alberta’s 2016 gold medal-winning U16 squad have been selected to play in the 2017 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.
Goaltender Taylor Gauthier (Calgary), defencemen Bowen Byram (Lethbridge), Jake Lee (Sherwood Park), Rhett Rhinehart (Lloydminster), and Matthew Robertson (Sherwood Park), and forwards Connor Bouchard (Cochrane), Kirby Dach (Fort Saskatchewan), Peyton Krebs (Okotoks), and Brayden Tracey (Calgary) are among the 66 players chosen to represent Canada.
The 66 players will be divided into three teams representing Team Canada Black, Team Canada Red, and Team Canada White when they compete against the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Sweden, and the United States in their quest for a gold medal.
In July, 111 players were invited to the week-long national under-17 development camp, marking the first step in Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence.
The tournament opens Nov. 5 at the Encana Events Centre in an all-Canadian affair as last year’s silver-medallist, Team Canada Black, takes on Team Canada White at 2:30 p.m. The opening day concludes with Sweden facing Russia at North Peace Arena in Fort St. John.
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