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Nugent-Hopkins named to Top Prospects game

Red Deer Rebels star centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will play in the CHL/NHL Top Prospects game Jan. 19 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Nugent-Hopkins, one of 13 WHL players selected to compete in the event, will suit up with Team Orr.
Blades vs Rebels 2 101030jer
The Rebels' Ryan Nugent-Hopkins shields the puck from the Saskatoon Blades' Ryan Olsen. Nugent-Hopkins is the top-ranked Western Hockey League skater for the 2011 NHL entry draft.

Red Deer Rebels star centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will play in the CHL/NHL Top Prospects game Jan. 19 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

Nugent-Hopkins, one of 13 WHL players selected to compete in the event, will suit up with Team Orr.

The Top Prospects game serves as an annual showcase of the Canadian Hockey League’s top 40 NHL draft-eligible players and will be broadcast nationally by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS. The two-day event also features a skills competition and three-on-three challenges.

He will be joined by Sean Couturier of the Drummondville Voltigeurs and Kitchener Rangers left-winger Gabriel Landeskog. Couturier is one of nine players from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League who will participate while the Ontario Hockey League will have 18 players in the game. NHL Central Scouting director E.J. McGuire said it’s a friendly game but the intensity will still be very high.

“There will be no tapping of shin pads and there will be a little growling at faceoffs,” McGuire said. “All of which makes the scouts drool because they want to see how these guys from the three different leagues go at each other in a head-to-head competition.”