Castlegar's Hadley, Trail's St. Denis lock up Canada West roster spots
By The Nelson Daily Sports
Two West Kootenay hockey players will suit up for Canada West at the upcoming 2011 World Junior A Challenge, November 7-13, 2011 in Langley.
Aaron Hadley of Castlegar and Trail’s Travis St. Denis are two of the 22 players selected announced Wednesday by B.C. Hockey.
“Getting down to 22 players was by no means an easy decision,” said Canada West head coach Kent Lewis in a B.C. Hockey press release.
Lewis also skippers the Powell River Paper Kings of the B.C. Hockey League.
“We had some tremendously talented players in camp, and they did not make our jobs easy as a coaching staff,” Lewis added. “We’re excited about the players we’ve selected and look forward to getting started.”
St. Denis has been on fire since being acquired by the Penticton Vees during the off-season. The 5’8”, 166-pound speedster has 14 goals and 13 assists in 13 games with the Vees.
St. Denis has committed to Quinnipiac in Hamden, Connecticut, which is the same university as the Connor and Kellen Jones of Montrose.
Hadley, 18, has two goals and five assists for the Vipers.
The 6’2”, 190-pound right-winger has committed to Western Michigan.
Players named to the Canada West selection camp roster were selected from the CJHL’s five western Junior A leagues: the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL), Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL), Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL), Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) and Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL).
Canada West will play in Group A, joined by Sweden and the United States.
Preliminary round play begins Wednesday, Nov. 9, with both semifinals taking place Friday, Nov. 11.
The gold medal game, which will be shown nationally on TSN/RDS, the official broadcasters of Hockey Canada, is set for Sunday, Nov. 13.
Two former members of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League’s Nelson Leafs, goalie Matt Larose and winger Gus Correale made the Canada West Evaluation Roster.
However, the pair did not make the final team selection.
sports@thenelsondailycom
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