PICKLEBALL
The Penticton Pickleball Club season opens May 1 at the outdoor courts located at 2965 South Main St.
The outdoor club offers recreational and competitive play along with instruction and mentoring. The Spring meeting will be held Thursday, April 19 at 7 p.m. at the South Main Seniors Drop-in Centre. Membership signup for $75 will be available starting at 6:15 p.m. Please bring cash or cheque.
For more information, visit the club’s website at pentictonpickleball.blogspot.ca.
Oilers’ McDavid to lead Canada at worlds
CALGARY — Oilers superstar Connor McDavid headlines Canada’s initial 18-player roster released Thursday for the 2018 IIHF World Championship. McDavid, whose Edmonton squad missed the NHL playoffs after a disappointing sixth-place finish in the Pacific Division this season, won gold with Canada at the 2016 world championship. He’ll be joined by fellow 2016 gold medallist Ryan O’Reilly of the Buffalo Sabres.
Other returnees to the team include 2015 goldmedal winners Jordan Eberle of the New York Islanders, Aaron Ekblad of the Florida Panthers and Brayden Schenn of the St. Louis Blues.
The tournament runs from May 4-20 in Copenhagen and Herning, Denmark.
Darcy Kuemper of the Arizona Coyotes was the lone goaltender named to the initial roster.
Three St. Louis defencemen were named — Vince Dunn, Joel Edmundson and Colton Parayko — along with Thomas Chabot of the Ottawa Senators, Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse and Ryan Pulock of the Islanders.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will join McDavid — his late-season linemate with the Oilers — while Eberle has fellow Islanders Mathew Barzal and Anthony Beauvillier among the forwards, along with Vancouver’s Bo Horvat, Schenn and Jaden Schwartz of St. Louis, O’Reilly and Ottawa’s Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
Canada has won gold at two of the last three world championships.