Team Canada begins 2018 World Junior Hockey Championship schedule

Hockey Canada (Wikimedia Commons)

Team Canada is set to begin the 2018 World Junior Hockey Championship in Buffalo, New York on Tuesday. The Canadian team will be playing Finland its first game of the tournament starting at 2pm MT on TSN.

The Canadian squad are playing in Group A. Their other pool games in the tournament will come against Slovakia (Wednesday, 5pm MT), the United States (Friday, 1pm MT) and Denmark (Saturday, 6pm MT). The game against the United States will be prestigious because it will be at the New Era Field, which is the home of the National Football League’s Buffalo Bills.

Team Canada has one National Hockey League player on its roster this season. Defenseman Victor Mete of Woodbridge, Ontario has played 27 games for the Montreal Canadiens this season and has four assists for four points and is a +5.

Canada’s captain will be Dillon Dube of Cochrane, Alberta. Dube, a center who was drafted by the Calgary Flames, has 18 goals and 21 assists for 39 points so far this season with the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League.

The top player on Team Canada from the Western Hockey League is Tyler Steenbergen of Sylvan Lake, Alberta. Steenbergen, who was the fifth round pick of the Arizona Coyotes of the 2017 NHL Draft, has 35 goals and 26 assists for 61 points in 27 games with the Swift Current Broncos and is fourth in WHL in scoring at the moment.

Jordan Kyrou of Toronto, Ontario currently leads the Ontario Hockey League in scoring with 58 points (19 goals and 39 assists). A center with the Sarnia Sting, Kyrou was the second round draft pick, 35th overall, by the St. Louis Blues in the 2016 National Hockey League Entry Draft.

Drake Batherson of New Minas, Nova Scotia is the top offensive player on the Canadian roster from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. A center who was drafted in the fourth round by the Ottawa Senators in the 2017 National Hockey League Entry Draft, has 17 goals and 22 assists for 39 points with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.

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