Dumba to captain Canada's World U-18 team

Red Deer's Mathew Dumba has been named captain of Canada's team for the World Under-18 Championship, which starts Thursday.

Dumba is No. 11 on NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of the top North American skaters for the 2012 NHL Draft. Dumba captained Canada's summer U-18 team to a gold medal at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.

Windsor forward Kerby Rychel (2013 draft eligible) and Erie defenseman Adam Pelech (No. 120) were named alternate captains.

"All three players have tremendous leadership qualities," Canada coach Jesse Wallin -- also Dumba's coach in Red Deer -- said. "They have all shown a presence around the team and are respected by their teammates. We are pleased with our leadership group."

Canada opens round-robin play Thursday against Denmark. They're in Group A, along with Denmark, the Czech Republic, Finland and the U.S. Group B consists of Germany, Latvia, Russia, Switzerland and Sweden.

The tournament runs April 12-22 in Brno and Znojmo, Czech Republic. Canada finished fourth at last year's tournament.

Some of the top players for the 2012 draft will take part in the tournament. Check out some of the talent filling out the rosters for Finland, Canada, the U.S., Sweden and Russia.

Contact Adam Kimelman at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @NHLAdamK

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