This afternoon, Hockey Canada announced the 39 players that will participate in Team Canada's Selection Camp for this winter's World Junior tournament. The camp roster is here.
Notre Dame's Riley Sheahan, Colorado College's Jaden Schwartz, Minnesota-Duluth's Dylan Olsen, and Miami's Reilly Smith were all selected for the camp. Former RPI forward Brandon Pirri, rounded out the non-CHL players.
Olsen is a returnee to the camp, just missing out on making the squad last year. He's got a decent chance of making the team, but all three returning players for Team Canada are on defense, leaving just a couple spots up for grabs. It's tough to imagine Jaden Schwartz not getting a very serious look after how well he has played so far this year, and Sheahan has an outside shot at getting a look just because he could provide some solid defensive play on a lower line. Though it's maybe for the best if none of them get selected, because then it makes Canada that much easier to hate.
Regardless of who they pick, there is some serious talent on this team, and even though the tournament is on US soil, I still expect a very heavy showing of Canadian support at the tournament. The US won't meet Canada in pool play this year, meaning they likely wouldn't play until the semifinals, but if they meet, it should be an absolute war.
The US team, for their part, will release the names of the players attending their Selection Camp on December 7. USA hockey is only inviting 28-ish players to that camp, so that will give a pretty decent idea of what the team will look like. Later this week, I'll take a more in-depth look at who I think USA Hockey should be selecting.