On Tuesday afternoon, Canada’s preliminary roster for the 2024 World Junior Hockey Championship was announced to the public. With many notable names on the list, the selection camp will take place here in Oakville at Sixteen-Mile Sports Complex.
With the tournament being hosted in Sweden, Canada will be able to take advantage of Sixteen-Mile's international-sized ice rink, one of the only international rinks in all of the GTA.
The reason Canada will want to use the international rink is because all ice rinks in Europe are international sized which is 200m x 100m instead of the North American 200m x 80m
The selection camp will take place from Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023 until Wednesday the 13th.
Canada’s first event that will be open to the public will be an exhibition game against the U-Sports all-stars on the 12th at 3 p.m. and they will host another game open to the public the following day at noon.
Sadly no Oakville players were named to the roster, but the event will feature several of the NHL’s next top stars.
The top player to watch in the net will be Domenic DiVincentiis of the North Bay Battalion.
DiVincentiis was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in 2022 and was one of the top goalies in the CHL last season with a .919 save percentage and a 2.33 goals-against average.
He's the favourite to be Canada’s starting goalie when the tournament starts on Boxing Day. And on defence, there are many players to get excited about.
Players like Flyers first-round pick Oliver Bonk and Ducks prospect Noah Warren are names that pop out to me but a player I have my eye on is Seattle Kraken prospect Ty Nelson.
Although Nelson only clocks in at 5' 10", he has a rocket of a one-timer from the point and has swagger that can’t be matched.
Last year in North Bay he scored a total of 76 points in only 67 games as a defender and this year he already has 30 points in 26 games.
Nelson can quarterback a powerplay and be responsible in his own zone when called upon, he can be used in all defensive situations.
Finally, the forward group. Although some notable names were left off the list, like Jets prospect Colby Barlow and Kraken prospect David Goyette, this year’s forwards are still some of the best that Canada has to offer.
Obviously, the talk around the GTA will be Toronto Maple Leafs prospects Fraser Minten and Easton Cowan being named to the roster and rightfully so.
Both Minten and Cowan have had great starts to their season and Minten even made the Leafs out of camp but was sent down after three games.
But the player everyone should have their eye on is the projected number one overall pick Macklin Celebrini.
As the only player on the roster born in 2006, Celebrini scored 85 points last year with the Chicago Steel of the USHL and has already scored 25 goals in 15 games with Boston University.
Celebrini also lit up the U18 World Championships in the summer where he scored 15 points in seven games as an under-aged player.
Canada has a great group of young players competing for gold this year and their journey starts right here in Oakville this Sunday.