CALGARY — Alex Pietrangelo of the St. Louis Blues, Ryan Ellis of the Windsor Spitfires and Cody Hodson of the Brampton Battalion are among 36 players invited to the selection camp for the Canadian team that will try to win a sixth straight gold medal at the world junior hockey championship.
They are among seven returning players from last year’s squad along with defenceman Colten Teubert and forward Jordan Eberle of the Regina Pats, and forwards Patrice Cormier of the Rimouski Oceanic and Stefan Della Rovere of the Barrie Colts.
Also invited were two of the hottest prospects for the next NHL draft — forwards Taylor Hall of the Spitfires and Tyler Seguin of the Plymouth Whalers.
The Dec. 12-16 camp in Regina will serve to select the 22-man roster for the world junior tournament beginning Dec. 26 in Regina and Saskatoon.
The invitees include four goaltenders, 12 defencemen and 20 forwards.
Not on the list were a number of junior-aged players now in the NHL, including John Tavares of the New York Islanders, Matt Duchene of the Colorado Avalanche and Tyler Myers of the Buffalo Sabres.
The Blues are willing to release Pietrangelo, who has appeared in nine NHL games this season.
The Memorial Cup champion Spitfires also have forwards Adam Henrique and Greg Nemisz in camp.
The goalies include Jake Allen of the Montreal Juniors, Matt Hackett of Plymouth, Martin Jones of the Calgary Hitmen and Olivier Roy of the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.
Defencemen include Jared Cowen of the Spokane Chiefs, and Brandon Gormley of the Moncton Wildcats, while the forwards include Brayden Schenn of Brandon, Louis Leblanc of Harvard and Nazem Kadri of the London Knights.