The Montreal Canadiens will have three prospects at the final selection camp for Team Canada’s World Junior Hockey Championship roster.
The Montreal Canadiens will be well represented at Team Canada’s final selection camp for the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championship. The tournament will take place in Montreal and Toronto, starting on Boxing Day. The gold medal will be handed out on January 5th.
Team Canada was formerly a perennial winner of this event. From 2005-09, Canada won gold in five straight events. They followed those tournaments up with a pair of silver medals and then won a bronze in 2012.
Since then however, Canada has not been a dominant team at the annual event. With the best teenage hockey players in the world competing, it appears the rest of the world has finally caught up to Canada.
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The host nation this year, Canada will be looking to step on the podium for just the second time in five years. With Finland rising to power, the Russians, Swedes and Americans always contenders, Canada hasn’t been able to flex its muscles on this stage in the past few years.
This year, they will look to return to prominence, and could have a trio of Canadiens prospects leading the way.
Noah Juulsen
Noah Juulsen headlines the Habs youngsters that will be heading to camp. The Canadiens selected him in the first round, 26th overall in the 2015 NHL Draft. He is a native of Abbotsford, British Columbia currently plays defence for the Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League.
In his draft year, Juulsen looked like a blossoming two way threat from the blue line. He scored nine goals and 53 points in 63 games that season. He helped lead the Silvertips to a first place finish in their division, but they were dumped in the second round of the playoffs.
Last season, Juulsen struggled offensively. He scored just 28 points in 63 games, though the team was still okay. They finished second in their division, and once again were brushed aside in the second round of the WHL playoffs.
This season, Juulsen is back to looking like a two-way force for Everett. He has seven goals and 18 points in 21 games. The Silvertips are one of the top teams in the league, and Juulsen is their best defender. He plays all situations, quarterbacks the power play, leads the charge on the penalty kill and is helping lead the Silvertips to be a contender for the Memorial Cup in May.
Everett is currently ranked 7th among all Junior teams in Canada with a record of 15-3-4. A lot of their success can be attributed to the great play by their number one defenceman.
Juulsen is considered a favourite to make the team, according to Bob McKenzie who knows everything. He is one of two right handed shots, was one of the final cuts from the team last year and is playing infinitely better this season than he did a year ago.
Victor Mete
Victor Mete is another defenceman who is getting a look for Team Canada. He is from Woodbridge Ontario and currently plays for perennial powerhouse London Knights. This year is no exception as the Knights are off to a 16-3-2-1 record and are ranked third in the most recent CHL Top Ten ranking.
Imagine if they had Mitch Marner or Matthew Tkachuk back from last year’s Memorial Cup winning team.
They don’t, but they do have Mete back from the team that dominated in the OHL postseason and took home a Memorial Cup trophy after knocking off the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in overtime of the final game.
Mete was a quiet, depth contributor for the Knights last season as a 17 year old in Junior. He scored 38 points in 68 games and also chipped in 11 points in the postseason in 18 games.
This season, Mete is scoring at just under a point per game with 22 in 24 contests. He was not selected until 100th overall in the draft, and is showing early on that he may have been a steal by the Canadiens.
Mete is a longer shot to make the team than Juulsen. There are 10 defenders invited to camp and seven of them will make the roster. Of the ten, only one was drafted later than Mete, and that was Phillipe Myers who went undrafted. If he keeps up his strong play, Mete could join Juulsen on Canada’s blue line this holiday season.
Michael McNiven
Michael McNiven may be the biggest surprise on Canada’s camp roster. Last season, he went undrafted in the NHL draft after posting a 2.94 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage. However, he signed as a free agent with the Canadiens, and now looks like he could be the starter for Canada.
This season, McNiven is proving to be the best goaltender in the OHL. He has a 13-5-1 record with a 2.29 GAA and a .920 SV%. He is one of just three goaltenders invited to the camp and his competition will be Connor Ingram of the Kamloops Blazers and Carter Hart of the Everett Silvertips.
Both of McNiven’s counterparts are having excellent seasons in the WHL. Even if the make the team over the Canadiens goaltending prospect, it is quite a hat tip for McNiven to be on this short of a list for competition to represent Canada at the World Juniors.
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The Canadiens were one of very few teams with no players at last year’s World Junior tournament. They will surely have Mikhail Sergachev there this year and could have a trio of Canadian born players there as well.