Red Deer residents may have seen a couple of familiar faces Thursday afternoon when Hockey Canada announced the National Junior Team summer camp roster.
Red Deer’s Nate Danielson and Rebels goaltender Chase Coward were among the 44 players invited to the camp at the Markin MacPhail Centre in Calgary from July 23 to 27.
Danielson said being invited and recognized as a member of the camp is a special moment in his career.
“Anytime you get a chance to represent your country even just at a camp or anything like this and to be able to have an opportunity to maybe eventually represent the country it’s obviously really special,” he said.
Those who make the final squad will represent Canada at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship in Halifax and Moncton in December.
Danielson played his first full season with the Western Hockey League’s (WHL) Brandon Wheat Kings scoring 23 goals for 57 points in 53 games. The year before, Danielson fired in three goals and 15 points in 24 games. Overall, he thought it was a learning year for himself even though he had a slower start than he wanted. As the year went on he improved his game and had a successful season.
In the 2020-21 season Danielson played for the Red Deer Chiefs U18 AAA before being drafted into the WHL. Throughout the camp roster, Danielson is the only member who grew up in Red Deer, which he said is great to be able to represent his city and country.
“I’ll be playing with the best players in the country so obviously it’ll be really competitive and they push us to be the best so I think the pressure part just comes with playing all the best players in Canada,” he said.
Rebels goaltender Chase Howard, who is a native of Swift Current, Sask. was one of four goalies invited after playing his first full season in the WHL.
Last season he played 35 regular-season games for Red Deer sporting a 2.51 goals-against average and a save percentage of .906, as well as two shutouts. He achieved a 22-10-0-2 in the regular season and in the playoffs a 4-3-1 record with a 2.24 goals-against average, .925 save percentage, and one shutout.