EDMONTON, AB - There are 46 players alongside Dylan Holloway at Hockey Canada's selection camp in Red Deer, but he'll only be allowed to skate with two of them for the first two weeks.
The Oilers first-round pick at the 2020 NHL Draft spent the last two and half months at the University of Wisconsin, participating in college classes, training with the Badgers hockey team and ultimately playing the first two games of his sophomore NCAA season this past weekend.
The 14th-overall selection scored in each game as the Badgers swept their road back-to-back against Notre Dame. Holloway then headed north on Sunday, flying to Calgary and briefly seeing his parents who drove in from Bragg Creek before finishing his trek to Red Deer.
Because he arrived from the United States, the forward is only permitted to skate in a small cohort that includes fellow NCAA players Devon Levi of Northeastern and Alex Newhook of Boston College for the first two weeks of camp, due to Hockey Canada's health and safety protocols.
Fortunately for Holloway, the camp runs until Dec. 13 so he'll have plenty of time to showcase his skills with the full group and participate in exhibition games against U SPORTS all-stars. From there, the final team will be picked to participate in the IIHF World Junior Championship, running Dec. 25 to Jan. 5 at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
"It's definitely super special," Holloway told Post Media. "I have to make the team first, but the fact that it is in Edmonton and that's the team that drafted me is pretty crazy and something I'm definitely not going to take for granted. The whole idea is something I'm super, super excited about."
Holloway won gold with Team Canada at the 2018 Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Edmonton.
WORLD JUNIORS: Holloway starting Canada camp in small cohort
Oilers 2020 first-round pick will skate with fellow NCAA players for first two weeks of World Juniors selection camp
