3 Herd In Ivan Hlinka

Photo - BO Groulx's Twitter

Hockey Canada released the roster tonight for who will participate in the 2017 Ivan Hlinka Tournament next week. The announcement comes after an U18 development camp in Calgary during the past week. For the first time since 2012, your Halifax Mooseheads will have multiple players on the Team Canada roster.

Three players who were rookies for the Herd in 2016-17, will represent their country later this month. Forward Benoit-Olivier Groulx, defenceman Jared McIsaac and goaltender Alexis Gravel are among the 22 young men who will wear the red and white. All 3 are ranked to go in the first round of the 2018 NHL draft in June and this will be a great opportunity for them to improve on their draft position before playing their second junior season with Halifax in 2017-18. Gravel, McIsaac and Groulx all doned the maple leaf at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games so the trio aren't strangers to international completion.

The Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup runs from August 7-12 in Breclav, Czech Republic and Bratislava, Slovakia. Eight countries will participate, Canada joins host Slovakia, Finland and Russia in Group B while in Group A, Czech Republic will host Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. Our boys and Team Canada will begin the tournament on Monday against Russia. For the full roster, click here.

Follow me on Twitter to get up to date scores and stats. I'll also try to post some on the blog. Go Canada Go!