Friday, December 9, 2016
Canada Tabs Recruits for WJAC
Two teams filled with future NCAA stars to compete in World Junior A Challenge
Twenty-seven players who have committed to NCAA teams are among those selected to the two Canadian teams for the World Junior A Challenge, which begins Sunday in Bonnyville, Alta.
Canada’s two teams – East and West – will compete with the Czech Republic, Russia, Switzerland and a United States team, named earlier, that features top players from the USHL.
WJAC site | 20 Commits on U.S. Team
Seventeen schools have at least one recruit on the Canadian teams. Cornell – for the second year in a row – leads all schools with three commits on the two Canadian rosters.
Including the U.S. team, nearly half of all NCAA Division I teams have commits in the tournament (26 of 60). Cornell all schools with five commits in the tournament, followed by North Dakota (four) and Denver (three).
Canada West is made up of players from the AJHL, BCHL and MJHL, while Canada East features players from the CCHL, LHJQ, MHL and OJHL. Past participants on Canada’s teams include first-round NHL Draft picks and current NCAA freshmen Dennis Cholowski, Dante Fabbro and Tyson Jost.
Preliminary round action runs from Dec. 11-13, with the medal round set for Dec. 14-17.
Canadian WJAC Teams & NCAA Commitments
| Canada East | CJHL Team | NCAA Team |
| Owen Guy | Kemptville (CCHL) | Lake Superior State |
| Connor Hill | Carleton Place (CCHL) | Niagara |
| Charles Levesque | Hawkesbury (CCHL) | UMass Lowell |
| Nick Lalonde | Cornwall (CCHL) | Robert Morris |
| Vincent Chapleau | Longueuil (LHJQ) | |
| Luke Keenan | Whitby (OJHL) | Princeton |
| Bryce Misley | Oakville (OJHL) | Vermont |
| Bobby Dow | Kemptville (CCHL) | Mercyhurst |
| Finn Evans | St. Michael’s (OJHL) | Princeton |
| Lucas Thierus | Saint-Jerome (LHJQ) | |
| Jack McBain | Toronto Jr. Canadiens (OJHL) | |
| Logan Johnston | Dieppe (MHL) | |
| Nic Mucci | Wellington (OJHL) | Niagara |
| Cameron Crotty | Brockville (CCHL) | Boston University |
| Aidan Girduckis | Carleton Place (CCHL) | Robert Morris |
| Quinn Wichers | Kemptville (CCHL) | Mercyhurst |
| Samuel Hould | Terrebonne (LHJQ) | |
| Owen Grant | Carleton Place (CCHL) | Vermont |
| Sebastian Dirven | Cornwall (CCHL) | |
| Tim Theocharidis | Carleton Place (CCHL) | Bowling Green |
| Stefano Cantali | Longueuil (LHJQ) | |
| Hunter Jones | Stouffville (OJHL) | |
| Canada West | CJHL Team | NCAA Team |
| Jeff Stewart | Surrey (BCHL) | Colgate |
| Ryan Cox | Ft. McMurray (AJHL) | |
| Riese Gaber | Dauphin (MJHL) | |
| Blake Hayward | Coquitlam (BCHL) | |
| Carter Turnbull | Powell River (BCHL) | |
| Michael Regush | Merritt (BCHL) | Cornell |
| Joseph Nardi | Whitecourt (AJHL) | Northern Michigan |
| Will Koop | Steinbach (MJHL) | |
| Desi Burgart | Surrey (BCHL) | |
| Kyle Johnson | Prince George (BCHL) | Yale |
| Brandon Lesko | Flin Flon (SJHL) | |
| Jordan Kawaguchi | Chilliwack (BCHL) | North Dakota |
| Kyle Betts | Powell River (BCHL) | Cornell |
| Darby Gula | Steinbach (MJHL) | |
| Griffin Mendel | Penticton (BCHL) | Denver |
| Ian Mitchell | Spruce Grove (AJHL) | Denver |
| Regan Seiferling | Yorkton (SJHL) | RIT |
| Jonny Tychonick | Penticton (BCHL) | North Dakota |
| Cale Makar | Brooks (AJHL) | Massachusetts |
| Cory Thomas | Flin Flon (SJHL) | |
| Logan Drackett | Calgary Canucks (AJHL) | RIT |
| Matthew Galajda | Victoria (BCHL) | Cornell |