Pouliot Named To Canada’s World Junior Team

’S ROSTER ANNOUNCED FOR 2006 IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP

VANCOUVER, BC - After a five day selection camp, Canada’s 2006 National Junior Team Head Coach Brent Sutter and Blair Mackasey , Hockey Canada’s Director of Personnel along with Team Canada’s coaching staff announced on Friday the 22 players that will form Canada’s 2006 National Junior Team, Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League announced.

Click here for Canada’s 2006 World Junior Championship roster.

The 2006 World Junior Championship takes place in Vancouver, Kelowna and Kamloops, BC , beginning December 26^th.  ’s first game of the 2006 IIHF World Junior Championship will be on Monday, December 26th at 4pm PT / 7pm ET versus .  TSN and RDS, the official broadcasters of Hockey , will again carry all of ’s games LIVE from the World Junior Championship and will be the host broadcast of the event.  All of ’s games will also be on radio via the FAN radio network (check local listings).

The final and only round of player releases took place on Friday morning in Vancouver when 12 of the 34 players that attended ’s National Junior Team Selection Camp were released.  Goaltenders Julien Ellis (Shawinigan, QMJHL), Carey Price (Tri-City, WHL), defencemen Michael Funk (Portland, WHL), Andy Rogers (Prince George, WHL), Jeff Schultz (Calgary, WHL), Logan Stephenson (Tri-City, WHL), Marc-Édouard Vlasic (Quebec, QMJHL), and forwards Derick Brassard (Drummondville, QMJHL), Kris Chucko (Minnesota, WCHA), Angelo Esposito (Quebec, QMJHL), Bryan Little (Barrie, OHL) and Devin Setoguchi (Saskatoon, WHL) will all rejoin their respective junior/university teams.

’s 2006 National Junior Team Breakdown:

·          1 returning player (Barker)

·          Program of Excellence:

o         20 of the 22 players have previous Program of Excellence team experience

o         4 played at the 2003 U18 Junior World Cup (Fourth)

o         8 played at the 2004 U18 Junior World Cup (Gold)

o         1 played at the 2005 U18 Junior World Cup (Gold)

o         3 played at the 2004 World Under-18 Championship (Fourth)

o         6 played at the 2005 IIHF World Under-18 Championship (Silver)

o         10 players were members of their provincial Under-17 teams at the 2003 Canada Winter Games

o         11 players have played as members of one of ’s five regional Under-17 teams at the World Under-17 Challenge

·          5 are team captains and 8 are alternate captains on their respective junior teams

·          Average age:                        19 years, 1 month, 28 days

·          Average height:                    6’1"

·          Average weight:                   193 lbs

·          Players from the OHL:        8

·          Players from the WHL:       7

·          Players from the QMJHL:   3

·          Players from NCAA:            4

’s National Junior Team will travel to Chase, BC on Friday afternoon for three days of preparation and training and will then make their way to Kamloops, BC where they will stage their pre-competition camp.  Team will play their first of two pre-competition games against the Czech Republic on Tuesday, Dec. 20 in Kelowna .  will face-off against Russian in Kamloops on Thursday, Dec. 22^nd. Both games will be broadcast live at 7pm PT on TSN, the official broadcaster of Hockey , and tickets are still available at the box office.

For ticket information, schedule and rosters for the 2006 IIHF World Junior Championship, visit the official website of the event and Hockey : www.hockeycanada.ca