FIVE WHO MIGHT GO

Canada has two more games remaining at the world junior hockey championship. And with GM Sean Burke in Buffalo scouting players who could represent the country at next month’s Olympics in South Korea, it’s an opportunity to do more than just win gold. Here are five players who might be in the mix:

VICTOR METE

On loan from the Montreal Canadiens, Mete had four assists in 27 games in the NHL, where he was paired with Shea Weber, before joining Canada’s world junior team. That puts him in a unique position, considering every other player on Canada’s Olympic team is there because they are not quite good enough for the NHL. Prior to suffering a lower-body injury in a game against the U.S., Mete had two assists in four games and had dazzled opponents with his speed at breaking out the puck and joining the rush.

JORDAN KYROU

The second-round pick of the St. Louis Blues in 2016 might be Canada’s fastest and most skilled player, something that Kyrou keeps reminding opponents about. Against Slovakia, the 19-year-old winger scored one of the tournament’s prettiest goals when he turned a defender inside out with a deke and then rocketed a quick wrist shot into the top corner. It’s something that he’s done a lot of in the Ontario Hockey League, where the Toronto native has 19 goals and 58 points in 30 games for the Sarnia Sting this season.

SAM STEEL

Offence is obviously Steel’s specialty. The first-round pick of the Anaheim Ducks was named the Western Hockey League’s player of the year last season after he scored 50 goals and 131 points in 66 games for the Regina Pats. He followed it up with 30 points in 23 playoff games. Playing on a top line with Kyrou and Dillon Dube, the native of Sherwood Park, Alta., has three goals and six points in five games at the world juniors, where he is an offensive threat every time he touches the ice.

DILLON DUBE

Canada’s captain is a versatile player, who is as comfortable on the power play as he is in killing penalties. As one of three returning forwards — Michael McLeod and Taylor Raddysh are the others — Dube also has experience in playing on the international stage. Though the secondround pick of the Calgary Flames only has two goals and one assist in five games, he has scored 18 goals and 39 points in 27 games with the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets this season and has been a player that head coach Dominique Ducharme has heavily leaned on for top minutes.

DANTE FABBRO

Unlike the other players on this list, Fabbro is playing in the NCAA where he has experience against older players. Boston University head coach David Quinn called the native of New Westminster, B.C., an “elite defender” who in his second year in college is “taking more of a charge from an offensive standpoint.” The 6-foot-1 and 195-pound Fabbro, who is a first-round pick of the Nashville Predators, has been in and out of the lineup at the world juniors because of a pre-existing injury. But when healthy, he is a solid, two-way defenceman.