The half-dozen who performed for the Canadian junior males’s hockey crew at age 16 is sprinkled with names like Gretzky, Crosby and McDavid.
Connor Bedard of North Vancouver, B.C., desires to hitch that group at choice camp in Calgary.
Connor Bedard skates throughout a apply on the Canadian World Junior Hockey Championships choice camp in Calgary, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
It’s a tall order for an underage teen to compete in opposition to extra mature gamers on the world under-20 championship.
The primary Western Hockey League participant to be granted “distinctive standing” and enter the WHL at age 15, Bedard led the Regina Pats in scoring with 14 objectives and 10 assists in 24 video games in his second season upon arrival at choice camp.
READ MORE: Connor Bedard invited to Staff Canada’s world junior choice camp
Bedard had but to show 16 when he contributed seven objectives and 7 assists in seven video games to Canada’s world males’s under-18 title in April.
The five-foot-nine, 180-pounder is amongst 20 forwards on the junior crew’s choice camp that concludes Monday when Canada’s 25-man roster is unveiled.
“He needs to be among the many high 22 gamers is what he has to do,” Canadian head coach Dave Cameron mentioned. “He needs to be who Connor Bedard is, which is actually good with the puck. He’s a gifted participant. He has to return in and present it in opposition to this age group.”
Connor Bedard skates throughout a apply on the Canadian World Junior Hockey Championships choice camp in Calgary, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Canada begins the world under-20 event in Edmonton and Crimson Deer, Alta., on Dec. 26 in opposition to the Czech Republic.
READ MORE: Choice camp begins with roster adjustments for Canadian junior males’s hockey crew
It appears Bedard has an extended runway to play for Canada’s juniors sooner or later given his age, however these chances are high restricted if the NHL membership that drafts him in 2023 decides to maintain an 18-year-old Bedard on its roster.
“You are available with the intention to make it,” Bedard mentioned. “These guys are a pair years older and the perfect gamers within the nation.
“It’s a brief camp. It’s going to be a few video games and clearly a couple of practices. In that brief time, simply attempt to present them my recreation and the way I may help the crew win a gold medal.”
Canada’s campers will face a U Sports activities squad in video games Saturday and Sunday. Each defenceman Lukas Cormier and ahead Mason McTavish skated Friday.
Cormier’s flight to Calgary was delayed and McTavish stayed off the ice Thursday awaiting the outcomes of a COVID-19 take a look at.
Wayne Gretzky (1978), Eric Lindros (1990), Jason Spezza and Jay Bouwmeester (2000), Sidney Crosby (2004) and Connor McDavid (2014) performed for Canada’s juniors at 16.
McDavid turned 17 every week after the event ended. Bouwmeester is the lone defenceman within the group and was the youngest at 16 years two months and 29 days.
Kingston Frontenacs ahead Shane Wright was invited to final yr’s choice camp in Crimson Deer as a 16-year-old, and was launched.
That camp was interrupted by a 14-day lodge quarantine for all gamers after two examined optimistic for COVID-19, so time for the Burlington, Ont., ahead to show himself was compressed.
Wright, who was Canada’s under-18 captain and Bedard’s teammate, is again at age 17.
“Simply the frustration of not making that crew, going into the camp my objective was to make that crew and it wasn’t the case,” Wright mentioned. “So I feel simply use that as motivation to make the crew this yr.”
Wright and Bedard are amongst seven gamers granted main junior hockey’s “distinctive standing” which for the final 16 years permits an underage participant to enter these leagues in the event that they meet sure standards.
Present Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares, Aaron Ekblad, McDavid, Sean Day and Wright have been granted distinctive standing by the OHL. Joe Veleno is the lone QMJHL participant to obtain that designation.
READ MORE: Regina Pats’ Connor Bedard named Western Hockey League’s high rookie for 2020-21
A 15-year-old Bedard compiled 12 objectives and 16 assists in 15 video games for the Pats in a 2020-21 season shortened by the pandemic.
The OHL didn’t function, so Wright says he used the time to construct up his power and energy.
“That’s a giant a part of my recreation I’ve actually improved on,” he mentioned.
He led Canada with a objective and two assists within the under-18 ultimate in Texas, and tied Bedard for a team-leading 14 factors within the event.
© 2021 The Canadian Press