Elick, McQueen & Hadland Heading to U17 Worlds
October 18, 2022 – Western Hockey League (WHL) – Brandon Wheat Kings News Release
BRANDON M.B – Hockey Canada has announced the three Canadian rosters – Team Canada Black, Team Canada Red and Team Canada White – that will compete at the 2022 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, Nov. 3-12 in Langley and Delta, B.C. The Brandon Wheat Kings are excited to announce that 3 of their players have been named to Team Canada’s U17 Team.
Blue liner Charlie Elick and Forwards Roger McQueen and Caleb Hadland will head to Langley to represent Team Canada on October 30th. The 3 players were a part of a star studded 2021 WHL Prospects Draft class: Charlie Elick (3rd overall), Roger McQueen(4th overall) & Caleb Hadland (22nd) overall.
Wheat Kings General Manager Marty Murray is excited for the 3 players, “It’s a huge accomplishment for these young men to be named to the Hockey Canada U17 team. It’s a great opportunity for each of them to play with and against the best in their age group,” said Murray. “It’s an exciting time for the Wheat Kings having 3 players participating in the select tournament”.
Charlie Elick (Calgary, AB) & Roger McQueen (Saskatoon, SK) will both play for Canada White.
Caleb Hadland, born in Fort St John British Columbia and raised in Sylvain Lake Alberta will play for Canada Red.
The tournament, which returns for the first time since 2019, will feature three Canadian teams matching up against Czechia, Finland, Sweden and the United States.
The players chosen to represent Canada at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge were selected by Alan Millar (Tottenham, Ont.), director of player personnel, Byron Bonora (Brooks, Alta.), U17 head scout, and Dave Brown (Niagara, Ont./Erie, OHL), U17 Program of Excellence management group lead, with assistance from regional scouts Darrell Woodley (Kitchener, Ont./Ontario Hockey League), Rob Simpson (Cobourg, Ont./London, OHL), Pierre Cholette (Lévis, Que./Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) and Darren Sutherland (Halifax, N.S./Blainville, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League). Scott Salmond (Creston, B.C.), senior vice-president of hockey operations, also provided input.
“After a strong camp in Calgary where we introduced 100 young players to the Program of Excellence this summer, we are thrilled to unveil the 66 who will wear the Maple Leaf with our three Canadian teams at this year’s World Under-17 Hockey Challenge,” said Millar. “We are fortunate to be able to assemble three competitive and skilled teams, and we are confident every player and staff member will represent our country with pride in Langley and Delta next month.”
Each team of the seven teams will play six preliminary-round games from Nov. 3-11, with the top four in the standings advancing to the medal round. The Langley Events Centre will host 16 games, including three all-Canadian matchups and both medal-round games on Nov. 12. The seven remaining games will be played at Sungod Arena in Delta, beginning with Team Canada White facing Sweden on Nov. 3.
Hockey Canada has also announced the coaching staffs that will work with the three Canadian teams at the event. Mark O’Leary (Owen Sound, Ont./Moose Jaw, WHL) will head Team Canada Black, with Greg Walters (Toronto, Ont./Owen Sound, OHL) leading Team Canada Red and Bruce Richardson (Montréal, Que./Blainville-Boisbriand, QMJHL) serving as head coach of Team Canada White.
Joining O’Leary’s staff will be assistant coaches Rick Steadman (Oil Springs, Ont./London, OHL) and Carl Mallette (Montréal, Que./Victoriaville, QMJHL), as well as goaltending coach Jason Barron (St. Catharines, Ont./Niagara, OHL). Assistants Ryan Smith (Headingley, Man./Spokane, WHL) and Brad Yetman (Mount Pearl, N.L./Rouyn-Noranda, QMJHL), as well as goaltending coach Steve Mongrain (Proulxville, Que./Shawinigan, QMHL), will round out Walters’ staff. Richardson will be joined behind the bench by assistant Devan Praught (Summerside, P.E.I./Swift Current, WHL) along with goaltending coach Byron Spriggs (Winnipeg, Man./Winnipeg, WHL).
TSN and RDS, the official broadcasters of Hockey Canada, will provide coverage of the 2022 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. Broadcast schedules will be announced in the coming weeks.
Fans looking to secure their seats for the 2022 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge can purchase a Langley ticket package for as low as $209 or Delta ticket package for as low as $89 at HockeyCanada.ca/Tickets. Single-game tickets for both communities are now available for purchase online for as low as $15.
Langley and Delta will receive the net proceeds from all ticket sales as a legacy of the event to support grassroots hockey within the communities. Additionally, recent editions of the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge have resulted in as much as $6 million in economic impact within the host communities.
More than 1,800 NHL draft picks have suited up since the inception of the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge (previously known as the Quebec Esso Cup) in 1986, including 16 first-overall draft picks since 2001 (Ilya Kovalchuk, 2001; Rick Nash, 2002; Marc-André Fleury, 2003; Alexander Ovechkin, 2004; Erik Johnson, 2006; Patrick Kane, 2007; John Tavares, 2009; Taylor Hall, 2010, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 2011; Nathan MacKinnon, 2013; Aaron Ekblad, 2014; Connor McDavid, 2015; Auston Matthews, 2016; Jack Hughes, 2019; Alexis Lafrenière, 2020; Owen Power, 2021).
For more information on the Hockey Canada and the 2022 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, please visit HockeyCanada.ca, or follow along via social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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