Three North Bay Battalion players will be heading to Calgary in late July vie for a spot on Team Canada.
Brady Lyle, who missed his chance to play for Team Canada at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge due to his pre-season shoulder injury last year, will be heading back to Calgary on July 29th for Canada’s Under-18 selection Camp.
From July 29th to August 2nd, a total of 44 players including four goalies, 16 defenceman and 24 forwards will take part in practices and three Red-White intrasquad games.
Of the 44 players who have been invited to the selection camp, 22 will be selected for Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team for the 2016 U18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup, Aug. 8-12 in Breclav, Czech Republic and Bratislava, Slovakia.
Canada has won the summer under-18 tournament 11 times in the last 12 years, including the last eight consecutive years.
Last summer Battalion coach Stan Butler and forward Zach Poirier were on the championship team.
Lyle, who turned 17 on June 6, played 44 games as a rookie last year, scoring one goal and earning nine assists for 10 points. He missed the first 23 games of the schedule after suffering a broken collarbone.
Meantime in the younger division, recent Battalion draft picks Rhys Forhan and Adam McMaster will be going to the Under-17 Development camp from July 26th to August 1st. The two are among the 111 players who will play for one of six teams, Black, Blue, Gold, Green, Red and White.
Following the development camp, players will continue to be evaluated through the early season before 66 are selected to represent Canada on one of three national teams – Team Canada Black, Team Canada Red, and Team Canada White – at the 2016 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, which is scheduled for Oct. 30 - Nov. 5 in Sault Ste. Marie.
