The West Wing
Monday, July 26, 2004

Posted by GSH-Editor

GongShowHockey.com Contributing Writers
By: Jimmy Kerr
kerrzy@gongshowhockey.com

Hockey Canada has recently released the top forty-four Junior-aged players that will be attending the National Junior Team Development Camp in mid-August (12-19th).  There are twelve returning players that were selected to attend by scout Blair Mackasey, who spent the entire last season evaluating the top Canadian players that will be eligible for the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships in Grand Forks, North Dakota from December 25th to January 4th this winter.Â

“Blair Mackasey has done a great job evaluating players and this is the group that he feels deserved to be at our camp in August,” said Head Coach Brent Sutter, adding that “there is always a chance that someone that isn't invited in August still could be invited in December and make the team.”

 Twenty-three of the forty-Four players that Team Canada scouts have selected to attend are from the CHL’s Western Hockey League, with ten playing in the OHL and nine playing in the QMJHL.  There is also a player from the NCAA and one from the BCHL rounding out the list of possible players, which will be cut down after the summer camp at which time some players will be invited to camp in December.

 Of the WHL players that were selected, Alberta holds the title of most invitee’s with 10 of the 23, which includes names that you’ll more than likely hear more often a few years down the road like Shawn Belle and Dion Phaneuf, among others.

 This is good news for the WHL, as 44 players from the league were also drafted into the NHL at this years June 26^th entry draft, including Cam Barker who went 3^rd overall.  The lads at Gongshow Hockey would like to extend all of our congratulations to the boys that were selected for this camp and wish them and the final team all the best this winter where Canada’s eternal quest for hockey supremacy will continue.

Kerrzy