Nine Canadian Sport School Hockey League (CSSHL) alumni have been named to the Team Canada U20 team that will compete at the 2023 World Juniors.
The 22-man roster, which includes 2 goaltenders, 7 defencemen and 13 forwards, will represent Canada at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship, December 26-Jan. 5 in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Moncton, New Brunswick.
Among the 22 players include 9 CSSHL alumni:
- Caeden Bankier – Kamloops Blazers/WHL (BWC Academy)
- Connor Bedard – Regina Pats/WHL (West Van Academy)
- Colton Dach – Kelowna Rockets/WHL (OHA Edmonton)
- Dylan Guenther – Arizona Coyotes/NHL (Northern Alberta Xtreme)
- Thomas Milic – Seattle Thunderbirds/WHL (BWC Academy)
- Zack Ostapchuk – Vancouver Giants/WHL (Northern Alberta Xtreme)
- Reid Schaefer – Seattle Thunderbirds/WHL (OHA Edmonton)
- Logan Stankoven – Kamloops Blazers/WHL (Yale Hockey Academy)
- Olen Zellweger – Everett Silvertips/WHL (OHA Edmonton)
Bedard, Ostapchuk, Stankoven and Zellweger all represented Canada at the 2022 World Juniors, taking home a gold medal after defeating Finland in overtime in the Gold Medal game. Guenther was part of the 2022 World Junior team during the initial December 2021 based tournament that was eventually shutdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to an injury, he was unable to participate in the re-run this past summer where his teammates captured gold.
The 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship begins on Boxing Day with Canada kicking off its tournament schedule against the Czechia. In addition to its opening-night match-up, Canada will also play Germany on Dec. 28, Austria on Dec. 29 and Sweden on Dec. 31 to wrap up preliminary-round action.