Benson Centre hosts Canada East selection camp

Canada East selection camp

Hockey Canada is coming to Cornwall.

A group of 44 of Canada’s top Junior A hockey prospects will be in Cornwall this week to participate in the Team Canada East selection camp in advance of the 2019 World Junior A Challenge in Dawson Creek, B.C.

The Team Canada East hopefuls will be in Cornwall from Tuesday, August 6th to Friday, August 9th to participate in a series of games and practices as part of the evaluation process.

“This marks the first year Team Canada East will host a summer selection camp, which will help the team staff evaluate and select its roster earlier than previous years and continue to evaluate the players throughout the season,” said Brent Ladds, president of the CJHL. “We are excited to start the evaluation process for Team Canada East next week, and we look forward to watching both Canadian teams compete for a gold medal at the World Junior A Challenge in December.”

The players and team officials will stay at local hotels and then take to the ice daily at Cornwall’s premiere multi-sport facility. The practices and inter-squad games are open to the public. Team White and Team Red will play four inter-squad games at the following times:

Wednesday, August 7th at 3 pm
Thursday, August 8th at 9 am and 3 pm
Friday, August 9th at 9 am

“We are happy to accommodate Hockey Canada and excited to see some of Canada’s best up and coming athletes compete,” says Jamie Fawthrop, Division Manager, Recreation with the City of Cornwall. “The Selection Camp is one of a number of upcoming sporting events in Cornwall over the next few months.”

The players were selected from the CJHL’s five eastern Junior A leagues: the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL), Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL), Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL), Ligue de hockey junior AAA du Québec (LHJAAAQ) and Maritime Hockey League (MHL). Team Canada East staff, led by head coach Martin Dagenais (Embrun, Ont./Ottawa, CCHL) and director of operations Mark Grady (Orleans, Ont.), will use the camp to evaluate the prospects before selecting the final roster for the 2019 World Junior A Challenge.

About the World Junior A Challenge

The five-team World Junior A Challenge includes two Canadian teams (Team Canada East and Team Canada West) along with the United States, Russia and the Czech Republic. Team Canada East has won silver four times at the annual tournament, most recently in 2016.

Team Canada East will kick off the tournament against Russia on Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. MT when the World Junior A Challenge heads to Dawson Creek for the first time.

Of the 13 gold medal games at the World Junior A Challenge, 10 have featured at least one Canadian team. Team Canada East will look to earn its first gold medal, having won silver five times (2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2016) and bronze once (2008).

For more information on the 2019 World Junior A Challenge, please visit HockeyCanada.ca or follow along via social media on Facebook or Twitter.

To see the Team Canada East selection camp roster, please click here.

Additional Events

Looking for other fun things to do in Cornwall? Make sure to check out our Events page for info on upcoming events in the area!

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Planning to explore Cornwall? Extend your stay at one of our many great accommodations! For a listing of local accommodations, click here.

Additional Information

Planning a visit to Cornwall? Cornwall Tourism can help. Email us at info@cornwalltourism.com to request a copy of our Visitor Guide or contact us at (613) 936-0842. You can also stop by our seasonal Visitor Information Centre inside the Cornwall Community Museum in Lamoureux Park. The Museum is located at 160 Water Street West, just steps away from the children’s splashpad and play structure. Free parking is available immediately north of the Museum along Water Street.

The seasonal Visitor Information Centre is open seven days a week (8:30 am to 4:30 pm) through the summer months.

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Article by Kevin Lajoie
www.CornwallTourism.com

Photo courtesy Hockey Canada