Canada named U18 roster for Sochi

Hockey Canada announced  the 23-player roster for Canada's National Men's Under-18 Team for the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship, taking place April 18-28 in Sochi, Russia.

The roster is entirely made up of CHL players and includes three goaltenders, seven defencemen and 13 forwards.

Goaltenders:

Philippe Desrosiers (Rimouski Oceanic)

Austin Lotz (Everett Silvertips)

Spencer Martin (Mississauga Steelheads)

Defencemen:

Chris Bigras (Owen Sound Attack)

Madison Bowey (Kelowna Rockets)

Dillon Heatherington (Swift Current Broncos)

Roland McKeown (Kingston Frontenacs)

Samuel Morin (Rimouski Oceanic)

Josh Morrissey (Prince Albert Raiders)

Shea Theodore (Seattle Thunderbirds)

Forwards:

Nick Baptiste (Sudbury Wolves)

Sam Bennett (Kingston Frontenacs)

Laurent Dauphin (Chicoutimi Sagueneens)

Jason Dickinson (Guelph Storm)

Hunter Garlent (Guelph Storm)

Frederik Gauthier (Rimouski Oceanic)

Yan-Pavel Laplante (PEI Rocket)

Morgan Klimchuk (Regina Pats)

Connor McDavid (Erie Otters)

Zach Nastasiuk (Owen Sound Attack)

Sam Reinhart (Kootenay Ice)

Nick Ritchie (Peterborough Petes)

Carter Verhaege (Niagara IceDogs)

The players, born in 1995, 1996 and 1997, were selected by Hockey Canada head scout Kevin Prendergast, in consultation with head coach Don Hay (Vancouver Giants, WHL) and assistant coaches Jody Hull (Peterborough Petes, OHL) and Yves Sarault.

The roster includes 11 players from the Ontario Hockey League, seven from the Western Hockey League and five from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

The roster also includes eight players (Chris Bigras, Madison Bowey, Morgan Klimchuk, Yan-Pavel Laplante, Josh Morrissey, Sam Reinhart, Nick Ritchie and Shea Theodore) who helped Canada's National Men's Summer Under-18 Team win the gold medal at the 2012 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka tournament in the Czech Republic and Slovakia last summer.

Four under-age players who travelled to Sochi to participate in pre-tournament games (Clark Bishop, Joe Hicketts, Alexis Pépin and Brayden Point) will return to Canada. The players were added to Canada's training camp roster to get added experience playing international competition.

Defenceman Dylan Labbè (Shawinigan, QMJHL) was injured during Canada's pre-tournament schedule and will also be returning to Canada.

Canada played two pre-tournament games ahead of the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship, losing 4-1 to the United States on April 14 before beating the Czech Republic 5-4 in a shootout on April 16.

Canada opens the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship on April 18 against Slovakia. It will also take on Germany, Switzerland and Sweden in Group B preliminary round play.

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