Nearly four dozen college hockey commits - and many, many more future college players - are among the players trying out for the Canada East and Canada West squads to compete in the World Junior A Challenge, Hockey Canada and the CJHL announced Tuesday.
U.S. Team Named | Full Canada East Tryout Roster | Full Canada West Tryout Roster
Tryouts for the Canada East and West teams will be held in Toronto and Calgary, respectively, from Oct. 28-31. With dozens of uncommitted players in each location, they are sure to be popular destinations for college recruiters.
Canada East's tryout roster is comprised of 60 players from five leagues: the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL), Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL), Central Canadian Hockey League (CCHL), Ligue de hockey junior AAA du Quebec (LHJAAAQ) and the Maritime Hockey League (MHL). The players on Canada West come from the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL), Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL), Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL), Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) and Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL).
About the Commits
There are 21 players on Canada East who have already committed to college. Mercyhurst has three recruits trying out for Canada East, while Cornell, Dartmouth and Quinnipiac have two each.
Twenty-four players trying out for Canada West have committed to schools, with Western Michigan leading the way with three recruits. Alaska Anchorage, Brown, Clarkson, Harvard, Michigan, North Dakota and Quinnipiac each have two commits on that roster.
Looking at both rosters, nearly half of the schools in Division I (28) have a committed player trying out for one of the Canadian teams. Quinnipiac leads all schools with four, while Clarkson, Mercyhurst and Western Michigan have three each.
The 2012 World Junior A Challenge will be held Nov. 5-11 at the Mariners Centre in Yarmouth, N.S. Canada East will play in Group B, joined by Switzerland and the United States, while Canada West, the Czech Republic and Russia will comprise Group A.
Committed Players
| Canada East | |
| Matt Buckles | Cornell |
| Blaine Byron | Maine |
| Shane Conacher | Canisius |
| Troy Crema | Dartmouth |
| Philippe Drouin | Mercyhurst |
| Chad Duchesne | Northeastern |
| Kyle Dutra | Mercyhurst |
| Tyler Enns | Mercyhurst |
| Jake Evans | Notre Dame |
| Troy Josephs | Clarkson |
| Corey Kalk | Dartmouth |
| Daniel Leavens | Robert Morris |
| Patrick McCarron | Cornell |
| Michael Neville | Michigan Tech |
| Brent Norris | Providence |
| Michael Pontarelli | Union |
| Jonah Renouf | Quinnipiac |
| Nathan Renouf | Quinnipiac |
| Mike Soucier | Bemidji State |
| Daniel Tedesco | St. Cloud State |
| Christian Weidauer | Niagara |
| Canada West | |
| Dexter Dancs | Michigan |
| James de Haas | Clarkson |
| Nolan De Jong | Michigan |
| Marshall Donald | Northern Michigan |
| Hudson Friesen | Alaska Anchorage |
| Kevin Guiltinan | Harvard |
| Aaron Hadley | Western Michigan |
| Robert Hamilton | Vermont |
| Chad Katunar | Notre Dame |
| Alex Kerfoot | Harvard |
| Wade Murphy | North dakota |
| Anthony Paskaruk | Clarkson |
| Austin Plevy | Merrimack |
| Zach Pryzbek | Brown |
| Michael Rebry | Western Michigan |
| Evan Richardson | Boston College |
| Tyler Steel | Brown |
| Michael Stenerson | Alaska Anchorage |
| Paul Stoykewych | Western Michigan |
| Adam Tambellini | North Dakota |
| Andrew Taverner | Quinnipiac |
| Evan Tironese | Rensselaer |
| Devon Toews | Quinnipiac |
| Matt Tomkins | Ohio State |