CALGARY — Canada’s junior men’s hockey team runs the gamut from seasoned pros to a 16-year-old.
Cole Perfetti, with over 50 professional games under his belt, and Connor Bedard, who becomes the seventh player to be named to the Canadian team at age 16, were among 25 players named Sunday to the 2022 roster.
Three goaltenders, eight defencemen and 14 forwards born between 2002 and 2005 comprise the host team for the world under-20 men’s hockey championship co-hosted by Edmonton and Red Deer, Alta., from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5.
‘The expectation is a gold medal.’ Here’s who will skate for it.
Lukas Cormier, Kaiden Guhle, Carson Lambos, Ryan O’Rourke, Owen Power, Donovan Sebrango, Olen Zellweger.
Goaltenders
Brett Brochu, Sebastian Cossa, Dylan Garand.
Soon, the quest for Gold begins
Canada opens the tournament on Boxing Day against the Czech Republic at Edmonton’s Rogers Place.
“It’s going to be a competitive team, we’re going to try to play fast, we’re going to be a team with a lot of energy, we’re going to be a team that initiates and plays with a lot of discipline,” Canadian head coach Dave Cameron said.
Bedard, a North Vancouver, B.C. product who plays for the WHL’s Regina Pats, joins Wayne Gretzky (1978), Eric Lindros (1990), Jason Spezza and Jay Bouwmeester (2000), Sidney Crosby (2004) and Connor McDavid (2014) in playing for Canada’s junior team at age 16.
“It’s pretty crazy to hear myself with those guys,” Bedard said. “Dreaming of playing in this tournament, getting the opportunity at the age I’m at is pretty special.”
Forward Shane Wright, who was released from selection camp a year ago at 16, earned a spot on the team this time.
Choosing experience
Garand, Guhle and Perfetti return from the team that fell 2-0 to the United States in the 2021 world junior final in Edmonton.
“Canada’s always got a skilled team and a lot of good people,” Guhle said. “The expectation is a gold medal.”
The 2021 tournament was held without fans in Edmonton because of the pandemic. There will be spectators in Rogers Place for the 2022 event.
“You ask the returning guys, Cole and Kaiden, it’s definitely not the same without fans,” Garand said.
“Whenever you can play in a tournament of this magnitude on home ice with home fans and a sold-out NHL arena, it’s pretty exciting to think about. I think it’s going to help our team.”
Perfetti, Sebrango and O’Rourke bring a total of 160 games of American Hockey League experience.
The Ontario Hockey League didn’t operate in 2020-21 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Perfetti and Sebrango returned to their AHL clubs this season.
Perfetti and Power won men’s world championship gold with Canada in Riga, Latvia, in June.
Cameron is the head coach of the Canadian team again 11 years after overseeing a squad that earned a silver medal in Buffalo. Canada lost 5-3 to Russia in that final.
Thirty-five players were summoned to selection camp in Calgary, but Sudbury Wolves defenceman Jack Thomson’s invitation was withdrawn because of COVID-19 protocols.
University of Michigan’s Johnson also didn’t report to camp Thursday because of COVID-19 issues, but was among the 14 forwards named to the 2022 edition.
A roster without NHLers — for now, at least
While no current NHL player joined Canada’s roster, Hockey Canada senior vice-president of national teams Scott Salmond has said that door remains open until Wednesday.
Canada plays Switzerland and Sweden in exhibition games Dec. 19-20 respectively in Red Deer followed by another pre-tournament game Dec. 22 against Russia.
Defenceman Vincent Iorio and forwards Zach Dean, William Dufour, Luke Evangelista, Jack Finley, Joshua Roy, Hendrix Lapierre and Ryan Tverberg were released Sunday. Defenceman Daemon Hunt was unable to continue due to injury.
“I don’t remember there being this many guys in previous camps that I was part of that had this many guys in the mix, which says something about Canadian hockey and the amount of depth we have here,” Cameron said Sunday before players were released.
“It makes our job a little bit more difficult, but those are the tough decisions you like. The more competition you have, the better it brings out of people.”
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
MacKenzie Weegar wasn’t bitter or upset as he watched friends live out their dreams.
The Calgary Flames defenceman just hopes to experience the same feeling one day. He also knows the road leading to that moment, if it does arrive, will likely be long and winding — much like his own path.
A seventh-round pick by the Florida Panthers at the 2013 NHL draft, Weegar climbed the ranks to become an important piece of a roster that captured the Presidents’ Trophy as the league’s top regular-season club in 2021-22.
Two months later following a second-round playoff exit, he was traded to the Flames along with Jonathan Huberdeau for Matthew Tkachuk. And less than two years after that, the Panthers were hoisting the Stanley Cup.
“Happy for the city and for the team,” Weegar said of Florida’s June victory over the Edmonton Oilers. “There was no bad taste in my mouth.”
His sole focus, he insists, is squarely on eventually getting the Flames to the same spot. The landscape, however, has changed drastically since Weegar committed to Calgary on an eight-year, US$50-million contract extension in October 2022.
Weegar has watched a list that includes goaltender Jacob Markstrom, defencemen Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin and Nikita Zadorov and forwards Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane shipped out of town since the start of last season — largely for picks, prospects and young players as part of a rebuild.
Despite that exodus, he remains committed to the Calgary project steered by general manager Craig Conroy.
“It’s easy to get out of all whack when you see guys trying to leave or wanting new contracts,” the 30-year-old from Ottawa said at last week’s NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas. “I just focus on where I am and where I want to be, and that’s Calgary.
“I believe in this team. The city has taken me in right away. I feel like I owe it to them to stick around and grind through these years and get a Stanley Cup.”
The hard-nosed blueliner certainly knows what it is to grind.
After winning the Memorial Cup alongside Nathan MacKinnon with the Halifax Mooseheads in 2013, Weegar toiled in the ECHL and American Hockey League for three seasons before making his NHL debut late in the 2016-17 campaign with the Panthers.
He would spend the next five years in South Florida as one of the players tasked with shifting an organizational culture that had experienced little success over the previous two decades.
“There’s always going to be a piece of my heart and loyalty to that team,” Weegar said. “But now I’m in a different situation … I compete against all 32 teams, not just Florida. There’s always a chip on my shoulder every single year.”
Weegar set career highs with 20 goals — eight was the most he had ever previously registered — and 52 points in 2023-24 as part of a breakout offensive performance.
“I think my buddies cared a lot more than I did,” he said with a smile. “All I hear is, ‘fantasy, fantasy, fantasy.'”
Weegar was actually more proud of his 200 blocked shots and 194 hits as he looks to help set a new Flames’ standard alongside Huberdeau, captain Mikael Backlund, Nazem Kadri, Blake Coleman and Rasmus Andersson for a franchise expected to have its new arena in time for the 2027-28 season.
“You have to build that culture and that belief in the locker room,” said Weegar, who pointed to 22-year-old centre Connor Zary as a player set to pop. “Those young guys are going to have to come into their own and be consistent every night … they’re the next generation.”
Weegar, however, isn’t punting on 2024-25. He pointed to the NHL’s parity and the fact a couple of teams surprise every season.
It’s the same approach that took him from the ECHL a decade ago to hockey’s premier pre-season event inside a swanky hotel on Sin City’s famed strip, where he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the game’s best.
“From the outside — media and even friends and family — the expectations are probably a bit lower,” Weegar said of Calgary’s outlook. “But there’s no reason to think that we can’t make playoffs and we can’t be a good team (with) that underdog mentality.
“You never know.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept 17, 2024.
Jose Maria Celestino da Costa was named vice-president and head of soccer operations while Marianne Brooks was appointed vice-president of partnerships, Kelly Shouldice as vice-president of brand and content and Joyce Sou as vice-president of finance and business operations.
The new six-team women’s pro league is set to kick off in April.
“Their unique expertise and leadership are crucial as we lay the foundation for not just a successful league in Canada, but one that stands among the top sports leagues in the world,” NSL president Christina Litz said in a statement. “By investing in top-tier talent and infrastructure, the Northern Super League is committed to creating a league that will elevate the game and set new standards for women’s professional soccer globally.”
Da Costa will oversee all on-field matters, including officiating. His resume includes stints with Estoril Praia, a men’s first-division team in Portugal, and the Portuguese Soccer Federation, where he helped develop the Portuguese women’s league.
Brooks spent a decade with Canucks Sports & Entertainment, working in “partnership sales and retention efforts” for the Vancouver Canucks, Vancouver Warriors, and Rogers Arena. Most recently, she served as senior director of account management at StellarAlgo, a software company that helps pro sports teams connect with their fans
Shouldice has worked for Corus Entertainment, the Canadian Football League, and most recently as vice-president of Content and Communications at True North Sports & Entertainment, where she managed original content as well as business and hockey communications.
Sou, who was involved in the league’s initial launch, will oversee financial planning, analysis and the league’s expansion strategy in her new role.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
