The Canadian Hockey League today announced that a total of 63 current CHL players are listed on official International Ice Hockey Federation rosters and are competing in the 2016 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship underway in Helsinki, Finland.
The 63 players includes a representative from all 10 participating countries including Canada who leads the way with 21 current CHL players followed by the Czech Republic, Russia, and the United States with eight players each, Denmark, Finland, and Slovakia with four players each, Switzerland with three players, Sweden with two players, and Belarus with one CHL player.
In addition to the 63 current CHL players, six competing players are former CHL players, while five non-CHL players participated in the 2015 CHL Canada Russia Series.
The Ontario Hockey League leads the way with 28 players competing in the tournament followed by the Western Hockey League with 23 players, and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with 12 players.
37 of the CHL’s 60 clubs are represented in the event with the OHL’s Erie Otters and London Knights sending a CHL-high four players each. The WHL’s Kelowna Rockets and Seattle Thunderbirds along with the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs and Niagara IceDogs each have three players competing. 12 teams have two players competing including the QMJHL’s Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, Charlottetown Islanders, and Saint John Sea Dogs, the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings, Calgary Hitmen, Moose Jaw Warriors, Red Deer Rebels, and Spokane Chiefs, along with the OHL’s Barrie Colts, Kitchener Rangers, and Ottawa 67’s.
Last season, 54 CHL players competed in the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship in Montreal and Toronto.
CHL Players Competing at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship:
Canada (21):
Mathew Barzal (Seattle Thunderbirds)
Anthony Beauvillier (Shawinigan Cataractes)
Mackenzie Blackwood (Barrie Colts)
Thomas Chabot (Saint John Sea Dogs)
Rourke Chartier (Kelowna Rockets)
Lawson Crouse (Kingston Frontenacs)
Travis Dermott (Erie Otters)
Haydn Fleury (Red Deer Rebels)
Julien Gauthier (Val-d’Or Foreurs)
Joe Hicketts (Victoria Royals)
Travis Konecny (Ottawa 67’s)
Mitchell Marner (London Knights)
Mason McDonald (Charlottetown Islanders)
Roland McKeown (Kingston Frontenacs)
Samuel Montembeault (Blainville-Boisbriand Armada)
Brendan Perlini (Niagara IceDogs)
Brayden Point (Moose Jaw Warriors)
John Quenneville (Brandon Wheat Kings)
Travis Sanheim (Calgary Hitmen)
Mitchell Stephens (Saginaw Spirit)
Dylan Strome (Erie Otters)
In addition, Jake Virtanen is a former member of the Calgary Hitmen.
Belarus (1):
Stepan Falkovsky (Ottawa 67’s)
Czech Republic (8):
Filip Chlapik (Charlottetown Islanders)
Dominik Masin (Peterborough Petes)
Jiri Smejkal (Moose Jaw Warriors)
Michael Spacek (Red Deer Rebels)
Simon Stransky (Prince Albert Raiders)
Tomas Soustal (Kelowna Rockets)
Pavel Zacha (Sarnia Sting)
Jakub Zboril (Saint John Sea Dogs)
In addition, David Tomasek competed as a member of the Belleville Bulls.
Denmark (4):
Niklas Andersen (Spokane Chiefs)
Christian Mieritz (Hamilton Bulldogs)
Lasse Petersen (Spokane Chiefs)
Alexander True (Seattle Thunderbirds)
Finland (4):
Olli Juolevi (London Knights)
Juho Lammikko (Kingston Frontenacs)
Julius Nattinen (Barrie Colts)
Vili Saarijarvi (Flint Firebirds)
Russia (8):
Sergei Boikov (Drummondville Voltigeurs)
Radel Fazleev (Calgary Hitmen)
Maxim Lazarev (Cape Breton Screaming Eagles)
Aleksandar Mikulovich (Niagara IceDogs)
Ivan Provorov (Brandon Wheat Kings)
Dmitrii Sergeev (Kitchener Rangers)
Damir Sharipzyanov (Owen Sound Attack)
Evgeny Svechnikov (Cape Breton Screaming Eagles)
In addition, five players including Alexander Dergachev, Artur Lauta, Andrey Svetlakov, Maxim Tretiak, and Nikita Zhuldikov competed for Team Russia in the entire 2015 CHL Canada Russia Series.
Slovakia (4):
Radovan Bondra (Vancouver Giants)
Erik Cernak (Erie Otters)
Patrik Maier (Kamloops Blazers)
Kristian Pospisil (Blainville-Boisbriand Armada)
In addition, Adrian Sloboda is a former member of the Ottawa 67’s.
Sweden (2):
Alexander Nylander (Mississauga Steelheads)
Dmytro Timashov (Quebec Remparts)
Switzerland (3):
Timo Meier (Halifax Mooseheads)
Dario Meyer (Edmonton Oil Kings)
Calvin Thurkauf (Kelowna Rockets)
In addition, Kris Schmidli is a former member of the Prince Albert Raiders and Pius Suter is a former member of the Guelph Storm.
United States (8):
Alex DeBrincat (Erie Otters)
Brandon Carlo (Tri-City Americans)
Christian Dvorak (London Knights)
Scott Eansor (Seattle Thunderbirds)
Brandon Halverson (Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds)
Ryan MacInnis (Kitchener Rangers)
Alex Nedeljkovic (Niagara IceDogs)
Matthew Tkachuk (London Knights)
In addition, Sonny Milano competed as a member of the Plymouth Whalers.
For more information on Canada’s National Junior Team, please visit hockeycanada.ca, or follow along via social media on Facebook and Twitter. The hashtags #WorldJuniors, #allheartcanada, and #HereWeGo will be used on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to help fans follow and connect with the team. For more information about the 2016 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship and for complete team rosters please visit www.worldjunior2016.com.