CALGARY, ALBERTA – Forty-four of Canada's best junior-aged hockey players (born in 1985 and 1986) have been invited to attend Canada's National Junior Team Development Camp from August 12-19, 2004 at the Father David Bauer Olympic Arena in Calgary, AB, Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League announced on Tuesday.

The forty-four players will be attending the National Junior Team Development Camp from August 12-19, 2004, under the supervision of Head Coach Brent Sutter (Red Deer, WHL) and assistant coaches Jim Hulton (Kingston, OHL) and Peter DeBoer (Kitchener, OHL). The schedule and details regarding the August camp in Calgary will be announced in July.

The forty-four players, including 12 players from the silver medal winning 2004 National Junior team, were selected by Hockey Canada's Head Scout Blair Mackasey who spent the 2003-04 season monitoring and evaluating the top Canadian junior-aged players. Mackasey and the coaching staff will oversee player evaluation at the August Camp and will continue to monitor these players and other eligible players prior to inviting a list of players to Canada's National Junior Team's Selection Camp in December, 2004. The 2005 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship will take place in Grand Forks, North Dakota from December 25 – January 4, 2005.

Forty-two of the forty-four players played in the Canadian Hockey League last season {23 in the Western Hockey League (WHL), 10 in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and 9 in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)}. One player (Wes O’Neill) played in the NCAA, and another (Travis Zajac) played Junior “A” hockey in the BCHL.

Hockey Canada Program of Excellence experience breakdown – National Junior team August development camp:

• 28 of the 44 players have previous Team Canada experience with either the National Junior Team or the National Under-18 Team

• 12 players from the silver-medal winning 2004 National Junior Team: (Belle, Carter, Coburn, Colliton, Crosby, Dawes, Dixon, Getzlaf, Phaneuf, Richards, Seabrook, Stewart)

• 31 players from the 2002-2003 National Under-18 Program (2002 Eight Nations Cup; 2003 World Under-18 Championship)

• 13 players from the 2003-2004 National Under-18 Program (2003 Junior World Cup; 2004 World Under-18 Championship): (Barker, Dubnyk, Chipchura, Crosby, Fistric, O’Neill, Rogers, Schultz, Wolski)

Canada's National Junior Team is a key component of Hockey Canada's Program of Excellence (POE), which has been in operation since 1982. The POE allows Hockey Canada to identify and train Canada's most gifted young hockey players, to encourage and motivate them to play for their country and to provide them with the opportunities to measure and refine their skills against top caliber international competition.

Hockey Canada's Program of Excellence identifies players in specific age categories and provides them with an opportunity to take part in international competitions, preparing them for the World Junior Hockey Championship, the World Hockey Championship and the Olympic Games. In Men's hockey, the POE regroups the Regional Under-17 teams, the National Under-18 teams, the National Junior team and the National Men's teams. Sixteen of the 23 players who won gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics got their start playing for Canada in the Hockey Canada Program of Excellence.