Giants’ Byram gets Team Canada Under-18 summer call
Vancouver Giants defenceman Bowen Byram is one of 14 rearguards invited to Team Canada’s tryout camp for the Under-18 Hlinka Gretzky Cup tournament.
Four goalies and 26 forwards will also be vying for spots under head coach Gilles Bouchard when they hit the ice from July 28-Aug. 1 in Calgary. The newly rebranded Hlinka Gretzky goes Aug. 6-11 in Red Deer, Alta.
Byram, a 17-year-old Cranbrook native, is one of three players going to camp who were part of the Team Canada entry at the Under-18 world championships in Russia in April.
Matthew Robertson, a defenceman with the Edmonton Oil Kings, and Alexis Lafreniere, a forward with the Rimouski Oceanic, were also members of the team that lost 2-1 to the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals.
Thirty-six of the players invited are eligible for the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, which takes places at Rogers Arena next June.
Byram, a 6-foot, 180-pound left-handed shot, is being touted as an early first rounder. He had six goals and 27 points in 60 regular-season games with the Giants last season, and then put up three goals and seven points in their seven-game playoff loss to the Victoria Royals.
Others invited to try out include: Victoria’s Jacson Alexander, a Swift Current Broncos defenceman; Vancouver’s Sasha Mutala, a TriCity Americans forward; Burnaby’s Massimo Rizzo, a Penticton Vees forward; and Langley’s Josh Williams, a Medicine Hat Tigers forward.
Other notables on the list include Victoria Royals forward Alex Newhook and Kelowna Rockets defenceman Kaedan Korczak.