CALGARY, AB -- Six members of Canada's gold medal-winning 1997 team at the World Junior Championship are among 41 players invited to the National Junior Team's summer evaluation camp at the Ice Gardens in North York, ON, Canadian Hockey and the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) announced Monday.

The camp is the first step in the process of assembling the team that will attempt to win a sixth consecutive gold medal at the World Junior Hockey Championship in Helsinki, Finland from to .

'This camp is an important evaluative tool for the National Junior team program," said head coach Real Paiement, head coach of the Moncton Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and an assistant coach on Canada's 1997 world championship National Junior team. "Choosing the right players is one of the most difficult tasks we face, and this camp lets us to see how the best players perform against each other.'

Paiement and his assistant coaches, Peter DeBoer of the Detroit Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League and Rick Carriere of the Red Deer Rebels of the Western Hockey League, will evaluate the players from August 8-14 at the Ice Gardens. Thirty-two players will be invited to the selection camp December 12-18, from which the final roster of 22 players will be chosen for the World Junior Hockey Championship.

The evaluation camp roster includes 17 players from the OHL, 15 from the WHL, eight from the QMJHL and one from the U.S. college ranks.

The group of six 1997 gold medalists includes Joe Thornton of the Sault Ste-Marie Greyhounds, who is expected to be the first overall pick in the 1997 National Hockey League Entry Draft this weekend. The others are defencemen Cory Sarich, Chris Phillips, Jesse Wallin and Richard Jackman and forward Boyd Devereaux. The list of invitees includes a cluster of top prospects for the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, including Patrick Marleau, Daniel Tkaczuk, Roberto Luongo, Nick Boynton, Dan Cleary, Jason Ward, Eric Brewer and Harold Druken.

Helsinki, Finland - December 25 - -98

(Player Ht/Wt. Birthdate 1996-97 Team)

Goal

Patrick Desrochers 6'3 - 190 Oct. 27, 79 Sarnia(OHL)

Mathieu Garon 6' - 182 Jan. 9, 78 Victoriaville (LHJMQ)

Roberto Luongo 6'2 - 182 Apr. 4, 79 Val d'Or (LHJMQ)

Aaron Schweitzer 5'10 - 160 Dec. 1, 78 U of North Dakota

Defense

Sean Blanchard 6' - 201 March 29, 78 Ottawa (OHL)

Nick Boynton 6'2 - 203 Jan. 7, 79 Ottawa (OHL)

Eric Brewer 6'3 - 196 Apr. 17, 79 Prince George (WHL)

Peter Hogan 6'2 - 172 Jan. 10, 78 Oshawa (OHL)

Richard Jackman 6'2 - 176 June 28, 78 Sault-Ste-Marie (OHL)

Zenith Komarniski 6' - 180 Aug. 13, 78 Tri-City (WHL)

Mario Larocque 6' - 175 Apr. 24, 78 Hull (LHJMQ)

Derek Morris 6' - 187 Apr. 24, 78 Regina (WHL)

Chris Phillips 6'2 - 200 March 9, 78 Lethbridge (WHL)

Cory Sarich 6'3 - 175 Aug. 16, 77 Saskatoon (WHL)

Brad Stuart 6'2 - 200 Nov. 6, 79 Regina (WHL)

Didier Tremblay 6'1 - 190 May 4, 79 Halifax (LHJMQ)

Jesse Wallin 6'2 - 186 March 10, 78 Red Deer (WHL)

Forwards

Aaron Asham 5'10 - 163 Apr. 13, 78 Red Deer (WHL)

Scott Barney 6' - 203 March 27, 79 Peterborough (OHL)

Steve Bégin 6' - 188 Aug. 14, 78 Val d'Or (LHJMQ)

Matt Bradley 6'2 - 190 June 13, 78 Kingston (OHL)

Nick Bootland 6'2 - 208 July 21, 78 Guelph (OHL)

Stefan Cherneski 6' - 185 Sept. 19, 78 Brandon (WHL)

Dan Cleary 6' - 200 Dec. 18, 78 Belleville (OHL)

Daniel Corso 5'10 - 175 Apr. 3, 78 Victoriaville (LHJMQ)

Boyd Devereaux 6'2 - 190 Apr. 16, 77 Kitchener (OHL)

Harold Druken 6' - 200 Jan. 26, 79 Detroit (OHL)

Jean-Pierre Dumont 6' - 187 Jan 5, 78 Val d'Or (LHJMQ)

Josh Holden 6' - 170 Jan. 18, 78 Regina (WHL)

Patrick Marleau 6' - 198 Sept. 15, 79 Seattle (WHL)

François Méthot 6'0 - 180 April 26, 78 Shawinigan (LHJMQ)

Brenden Morrow 5'11 - 195 Jan. 16, 79 Portland (WHL)

Colin Pepperall 5'11 - 180 Apr. 28, 78 Erie (OHL)

Geoff Peters 6' - 175 Apr. 30, 78 Erie (OHL)

Greg Phillips 6'1- 185 March 27, 78 Saskatoon (WHL)

Todd Robinson 5'8 - 160 June 16, 78 Portland (WHL)

Joe Thornton 6'4 - 198 July 2, 79 Sault-Ste-Marie (OHL)

Daniel Tkaczuk 6' - 195 June 10, 79 Barrie (OHL)

Darren Van Oene 6'3 - 208 Jan. 18, 78 Brandon (WHL)

Jason Ward 6'2 - 193 Jan. 16, 79 Erie (OHL)

Jeff Zehr 6'3 - 200 Dec. 10, 78 Windsor (OHL)

Staff

Head coach: Réal Paiement (QMJHL)

Assistant: Peter DeBoer (OHL)

Assistant: Rick Carrière (WHL)

Equipment manager: Blaine Whyte

Assistant equipment manager: Paul Shilton

Athletic therapist: Darcy Bishop

Team physician: Dr. Donald Plouffe