The road to November’s 2011 World Junior A Challenge kicks off next month in Canmore as Canada West, in partnership with the Canmore Eagles Junior A Hockey Club, has awarded Canmore the privilege of hosting the team’s first evaluation camp, Sept. 11-15.
At stake for the players is a chance to secure a spot on Canada West’s 22-player roster for the 2011 Challenge, scheduled for Nov. 7-13 in Langley, B.C. In addition to Canada West, the World Jr. Challenge will feature Canada East, as well as teams from the Czech Republic, Russia, Sweden and the United States.
“Canmore will be our Western Canada base, while Ottawa will be the site of our Eastern camps,” says Kevin Webster, manager of event operations for Hockey Canada. “This evaluation camp will include 60 players, as well as numerous coaches and scouting staff, and will present a tremendous opportunity for Bow Valley residents to see some of the best junior hockey players in Canada competing for a chance to wear the Team Canada jersey.”
Of the 60 players expected to attend the Canmore evaluation camp, up to 30 will be selected to attend the Canada West selection camp slated for the end of October in Langley.
Since the first World Junior A Challenge in Yorkton and Humboldt, Sask., in 2006, more than 100 NHL draft picks have played in the tournament, including nine first-round selections (Joe Colborne, Nikita Filatov, Dmitri Kulikov, John Moore, Vladislav Namestnikov, Riley Nash, Dylan Olsen, Brendan Smith and Kyle Turris).
“The Canmore Eagles are extremely pleased that Hockey Canada has accepted our bid to host this camp,” said Eagles head coach and general manager Andrew Milne. “This evaluation camp will provide a real economic boost to the Bow Valley as these players and coaches will require hotels, food and transportation while they are here. It will also provide the Town of Canmore with some significant exposure on the national stage.
“We look forward to putting on a great evaluation camp and creating a hockey buzz in the community. We (the Canmore Eagles) have our home opener on Saturday, Sept. 17, so this should help hockey fans get in the mood. If we do a good job hosting this camp, the Town of Canmore might see more of these in the future. Hopefully the fans will come out to show their support for Team Canada.”
The 60 players invited to the Canada West evaluation camp will be broken into three groups of 20. All three teams will practice every day, with three inter-squad games scheduled for the evenings of Sept. 12, 13 and 14.
Tickets for all three inter-squad games will be available for $10 per game or you can purchase tickets to all three games for $25. Children 12 and under will be $5.
For further information, contact John Ross at [email protected] or call 403-688-7070.
