National junior team selection camp will have Lethbridge presence

One local hockey player and two more with Lethbridge ties been selected for the 2021 National Junior Team Selection Camp.

Lethbridge’s Ridly Greig, Lethbridge Hurricanes captain and Buffalo Sabres prospect Dylan Cozens and former Lethbridge Val Matteotti bantam AAA Golden Hawk and midget AAA Hurricane defenceman Bowen Byram are among 46 players selected to take part in the selection camp which will take place Nov. 16 to Dec. 13 in Red Deer.

The final selections will represent Canada at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship beginning Christmas Day in Edmonton.

Cozens, 19, represented Canada at the 2020 World Junior Championship in the Czech Republic.

The product of Whitehorse, Yukon is one of six returnees from last year’s gold medal-winning team, where he scored two goals and nine points in seven games, including a goal in the gold medal game against Russia.

Cozens has also represented Canada at the Under-20, Under-18 and Under-17 levels.

Selected in the first round and seventh overall by the Sabres in 2019, Cozens has played in 179 career regular season games with the Canes, posting 95 goals and 223 points.

Last year, he had 35 goals and 85 points in 51 games.

Greig, who was drafted in the first round and 28th overall by the Ottawa Senators in this year’s NHL draft, completed his second year with the Brandon Wheat Kings.

The five-foot-11, 162-pound centre scored 26 goals and 60 points in 56 games.

Byram, from Cranbrook, was also a member of Team Canada’s gold medal win last year.

The first-round and fourth pick overall of the Colorado Avalanche in the 2019 draft had 14 goals and 52 points in 50 games with the Vancouver Giants last season. Lethbridge native and Giants head coach Mike Dyck is one of the assistant coaches on Team Canada this year.