Herd Players, Prospects Invited to Summer Showcase

Photo - Hockey Canada website

There will be lots of Halifax Mooseheads flavour during the Hockey Canada summer showcase next month in Calgary. Hockey Canada announced on Tuesday the players that have been invited to it's annual development and selection camps.

Four current Herd players got an invitation to the under-18 camp and are among the 44 young men who are vying for a spot on the Canadian Ivan Hlinka Team. Newly turned sophomores goaltender Alexis Gravel, forward Raphael Lavoie, defenseman Jared McIsaac and forward Benoit-Olivier Groulx were named to the roster. The 4 players will be in Calgary for five days at the end of July. Full U18 camp roster which is formed of all 2018 draft eligible players from all three CHL leagues as well as two players from the Ontario Junior A Hockey League and the Central Canada Hockey League.

Halifax will also have four prospects participating in the under-17 camp that will see 111 midget players in on- and off-ice sessions at the Markin MacPhail Centre. Defenseman Justin Barron as well as forwards Arlo Merritt, Alex Newhook and Xavier Parent will look to use the development camp as a way to get on the World U17 Championship team. This camp begins on July 22. The roster, which you can view here, is formed of players from many different minor leagues including the Greater Toronto Hockey League, the Nova Scotia Major Midget Hockey League and Alberta Midget Hockey League plus others.

Per the Hockey Canada press release: Ryan Jankowski, director of player personnel for Hockey Canada, was responsible for all player selections, with assistance from regional scouts Carl Bouchard (Quebec), Barclay Branch (Ontario), Barclay Parneta (West), Kevin Mitchell (Atlantic), and Darrell Woodley (Ontario), Canadian Hockey League general managers and branch representatives for the under-17 roster, and with input from coaches and general managers from across the CHL for the under-18 and under-20 rosters.

With such a young team, the Moose do not have any players who were invited to the World Junior camp. In fact only two players from the QMJHL are on the roster; Samuel Girard of the Shawinigan Cataractes and Blainville-Boisbriand Armada's Pierre-Luc Dubois.

Good luck to all 8 young men next month in Calgary! Moose Country will be cheering you on.