Canada sets roster for World Junior Championship

LAVAL, Quebec -- Canada's National Junior Team made its final cuts late Wednesday to get down to its final roster for the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship, and this is not a typical Canada team.
There are no surefire NHL superstars, no single player who stands head and shoulders above the rest. There is no Connor McDavid, or Nathan MacKinnon, or Aaron Ekblad.
And maybe that's a good thing.

With the crush of pressure sure to come playing in Toronto and Montreal from Dec. 26 to Jan.5, no single player will have to carry that load more than any other. They will be a team in the truest sense, one looking to erase the memory of their disappointment at the 2016 WJC in Finland when Canada finished out of the medals for the third time in four tournaments.
"I think it doesn't matter if we have a big superstar or not," said forward Julien Gauthier, one of three Carolina Hurricanes prospects on the team and one of five returning players from the 2016 tournament. "If every guy moves in the same direction that's how you win games, and that's what we're going to do this year."
The final players cut Wednesday were Owen Sound goaltender Michael McNiven (Montreal Canadiens), Charlottetown defenseman Guillaume Brisebois (Vancouver Canucks), Shawinigan defenseman Samuel Girard (Nashville Predators), Regina forward Sam Steel (Anaheim Ducks) and Sault Ste. Marie forward Zach Senyshyn (Boston Bruins).

The decision was a difficult one for coach Dominique Ducharme, his staff and Hockey Canada management because of how well the team had played earlier Wednesday in an 8-0 win against the Czech Republic. The balance and cohesion Gauthier referred to were evident in the three games Canada played during its selection camp, making it difficult to separate players from the pack.
But what also made those decisions so tough is what Ducharme thinks will make Canada a stronger team once it begins the tournament, against Russia at Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Dec. 26.
"We want to be a complete team," Ducharme said. "What we saw in the last few days is what we want to do. I think we've got speed, we've got skill, we're reliable, we can defend, we're good at putting pressure on the other team. We want to put all that together."
If there is one person who should be happiest with the final Canada roster, it would be Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman, who has five prospects among the 22 players who made the cut: goaltender Connor Ingram and forwards Mitchell Stephens, Mathieu Joseph, Anthony Cirelli and Taylor Raddysh.

Raddysh and Stephens each had two goals for Canada against the Czech Republic. Cirelli also scored and Ingram stopped all six shots he faced in the first half of the game.
"We all just knew what was at stake [Wednesday]," Raddysh said. "It was the last game to show them what we had to do and I feel like we all responded well to that."
In addition to selecting the final roster, Canada also received confirmation it would be getting no help from the NHL, meaning forwards Lawson Crouse of the Arizona Coyotes and Anthony Beauvillier of the New York Islanders will not be loaned for the tournament.
That gives Ducharme the green light to begin the team-building process without having to worry about the chemistry possibly changing at a later date.
"Now we prepare," Ducharme said. "I think throughout that phase we wanted to evaluate our guys individually, and we did that. But we started talking about our style of play and our philosophy and our mindset and the way we want to be playing. I see our team progressing through that."
Canada left for the Quebec ski resort of Mont-Tremblant on Thursday for some team-building exercises before returning to play an official pre-tournament game against Finland at Bell Centre in Montreal on Monday. That building also will be the venue for the medal round, with the semifinals scheduled for Jan. 4 and the gold-medal game Jan. 5.
There's a ton of work to be done for Canada before then, but Gauthier said he can't help but think about coming back to Bell Centre in the new year with a lot more at stake.
"We're not there yet, but I'm from Montreal," he said. "Playing in Montreal for the gold medal would be awesome."

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Canada World Junior Championship roster

Goaltenders: Carter Hart, Everett, WHL (Philadelphia Flyers); Connor Ingram, Kamloops, WHL (Tampa Bay Lightning)
Defensemen: Jake Bean, Calgary, WHL (Carolina Hurricanes); Thomas Chabot, Saint John, QMJHL (Ottawa Senators); Kale Clague, Brandon, WHL (Los Angeles Kings); Dante Fabbro, Boston University, H-EAST (Nashville Predators); Noah Juulsen, Everett, WHL (Montreal Canadiens); Jeremy Lauzon, Rouyn-Noranda, QMJHL (Boston Bruins); Philippe Myers, Rouyn-Noranda, QMJHL (Philadelphia Flyers)
Forwards: Mathew Barzal, Seattle, WHL (New York Islanders); Anthony Cirelli, Oshawa, OHL (Tampa Bay Lightning); Dillon Dube, Kelowna, WHL (Calgary Flames); Pierre-Luc Dubois, Cape Breton, QMJHL (Columbus Blue Jackets); Julien Gauthier, Val-d'Or, QMJHL (Carolina Hurricanes); Mathieu Joseph, Saint John, QMJHL (Tampa Bay Lightning); Tyson Jost, North Dakota, NCHC (Colorado Avalanche); Michael McLeod, MIssissauga, OHL (New Jersey Devils); Taylor Raddysh, Erie, OHL (Tampa Bay Lightning); Nicolas Roy, Chicoutimi, QMJHL (Carolina Hurricanes); Blake Speers, Sault Ste. Marie, OHL (New Jersey Devils); Mitchell Stephens, Saginaw, OHL (Tampa Bay Lightning); Dylan Strome, Erie, OHL (Arizona Coyotes)