CALGARY, ALBERTA – Forty of Canada's best under-18 hockey players have been invited to attend Canada's National Under-18 Summer Team Development and Selection Camp that will run from August 1-7, 2003 at the Father David Bauer Olympic Arena in Calgary, AB as Canada goes for an 8th straight international Under-18 Summer Event gold medal, Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League announced on Tuesday.

Twenty-two of the players at camp will be selected to the National Under-18 Summer Team, which will participate in the U18 Junior World Cup in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, from August 11-18, 2003. Canada has participated in an August Under-18 Tournament in Europe since 1997, capturing gold at all seven events.

The players and staff will assemble in Calgary, AB on August 1st for a seven-day training camp under the direction of Head Coach Bob Lowes (Regina, WHL) and assistants Dave Cameron (Toronto St. Michael's, OHL) and Pascal Vincent (Cape Breton, QMJHL). On August 7th, 22 of the 40 players will depart for Europe. Other teams participating in the U18 Junior World Cup include: the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Sweden and the United States.

Hockey Canada's Head Scout, Blair Mackasey, along with the coaching staff, will oversee the camp evaluations and selection of the players named to the roster for the U18 Junior World Cup in Europe.

The Under-18 National team is part of Hockey Canada's three-stage Program of Excellence beginning with the regional Under-17 teams and ending with the National Junior Team. The primary objectives of the Under-18 program are to identify, evaluate and condition players to the rigors of international competition by giving them their first exposure to international hockey, international officiating, larger ice surfaces, and travel.

• Thirty-nine of the 40 players have prior experience in Hockey Canada's Program of Excellence, having played at the 2003 Canada Winter Games last year Bathurst, New Brunswick;

• Ontario, bronze medal winners at the 2003 Canada Winter Games, placed nine players, while Alberta (gold medalists) and Quebec (silver medalists) each placed 8 players on the Development Camp roster;

• Thirty-six of the 40 players played in the Canadian Hockey League last season (WHL - 21; OHL – 8; QMJHL – 7; Other – 4)

Canada will participate in two major international Under-18 events this season. Canada will be defending World Champions at the 2004 IIHF World Under-18 Championship in April, 2004 along with nine other countries. The coaching staff for the World Under-18 Team will be named at a later date.

Canada's 2003 Men's World Championship Team, which won gold in Finland, included 12 players with prior Program of Excellence experience, having played for Canada's National Junior and/or Under-18 teams and/or with a Regional Under-17 team. Sixteen of the 23 players who won gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics got their start playing for Canada in Hockey Canada's Program of Excellence.