April 11, 2006
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WORLD UNDER-18 CHAMPIONSHIP BEGINS ON WEDNESDAY IN SWEDEN;
TY WISHART NAMED CANADA’S TEAM CAPTAIN, BEN MAXWELL AND JAMIE MCGINN NAMED ALTERNATE CAPTAINS

HALMSTAD, SWEDEN – Canada’s 2006 World Championship Under-18 team will open the 2006 IIHF World Under-18 Championship on Wednesday, April 12th versus Slovakia in Halmstad, Sweden.

On Tuesday, Canada’s head coach Greg Gilbert (Mississauga, OHL), along with assistant coaches Guy Boucher (Rimouski, QMJHL) and Kirk Muller (Queen’s University) announced that defenseman Ty Wishart (Comox, BC – Prince George, WHL) will be Canada’s team captain and Ben Maxwell (North Vancouver, BC – Kootenay, WHL) and Jamie McGinn (Fergus, ON – Ottawa, OHL) will be Canada’s alternate captains for the 2006 IIHF World Under 18 Championship.

All three players named today were members of Canada’s gold medal winning Under-18 Junior World Cup in August, 2005, which took place in the Czech Republic.  Maxwell and McGill served as alternate captains on that team.

The 2006 IIHF World Under-18 Championship consists of two groups in two venues/cities: Angelholm and Halmstad, Sweden, with the event running from April 12-22.  Canada is will play in group B, based in Halmstad, along with Finland, Norway, Slovakia and the host country, Sweden.

Canada named its roster last Thursday before traveling to Sweden on Friday evening and training in Tyringe, Sweden for the last four days.  Canada played two exhibition games: tying Sweden 2-2 on Sunday and beating Germany 8-1 on Monday evening.

Canada’s Under-18 team is made up of the best available players born in 1988 or later, who are not competing, or have been eliminated in the playoffs from their respective club teams.

Real time statistics for all of Canada’s games and all games in the Championship will be available LIVE at www.hockeycanada.ca.   TSN/RDS, the official broadcaster of Hockey Canada, will carry games LIVE from Sweden and the IIHF World Under-18 Championship, beginning with Canada’s fourth game, on April 17th versus Finland (check local listings).  There will be no TV or radio coverage of Canada’s first three games of the Championship, other than real time on-line statistics.

Visit the official website of Hockey Canada, www.hockeycanada.ca to view Canada’s 2006 IIHF Under-18 Championship roster, schedule, team updates and more information on the event.

» 2006 World Men's U18 Championship