Canada cuts down roster
Defence, goaltenders now set; 1 more forward cut to come next week
COLWOOD, B.C. (CP) — Six players were released from Canada’s world junior roster Friday, and one veteran forward was also ruled out of the upcoming championship tournament due to injury.
Eleven players have left the team in the past two days, with four cuts on Thursday, six more on Friday and the announcement that Alex Formenton is injured and not able to play in the tournament, which starts Boxing Day in Vancouver and Victoria.
Formenton, an Ottawa Senators prospect with 10 games of NHL experience and one of only two returning players from last year’s gold-medal team, injured his right leg in a pre-tournament contest Wednesday.
“We’ve done everything medically for assessments and he unfortunately has suffered an injury that is longer-term recovery than this tournament,” said national team director Shawn Bullock. “Unfortunately, Alex won’t be part of our national team program this year.”
Goaltender Matthew Villalta, defencemen Jacob Bernard-Docker, Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Nicolas Beaudin, and forwards Liam Foudy and Isaac Ratcliffe were released on Friday after Canada completed a three-game pre-tournament series against a team of Canadian university players.
Beaudin, from Chateauguay, Que., said he will use the experience to motivate him as his hockey career progresses.
“Team Canada is one of the toughest rosters to get on,” he said. “It’s not easy. It’s just motivation for me.”
Villalta, from Godfrey, Ont., said he was disappointed but will focus on being the best goalie possible.
“It’s always tough getting cut from a team,” he said. “One game and one week doesn’t define who I am.”
Defencemen Cam Crotty and Calen Addison and forwards Raphael Lavoie and Ty Dellandrea were released on Thursday.
Michael DiPietro and Ian Scott will form Canada’s goaltending tandem.
Thirty-four players were invited to the national junior selection camp, and the team must have a roster of 22 players.
Bullock said the team can wait until the tournament is underway before declaring its final roster.
Bullock said team officials have also been in contact with several NHL teams about possible junior-age players being made available for the tournament. He said NHL teams have until Dec. 19 to decide whether to return a player to junior.
In Friday’s finale of the exhibition series against the U Sports All-Stars, Kris Bennett scored twice to help down the Canadian hopefuls 5-1. Owen Tippett of the OHL’s Mississauga Steelheads scored the lone goal for Canada, with an assist from Cody Glass of the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks.