Saint John, NB – Hockey Canada’s Atlantic Centre of Excellence, in co-operation with the four Atlantic hockey branches is very pleased to announce that Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia will serve as the host for the 2003 Team Atlantic Summer Hockey Development Festival.

“In our experience, the facilities at Acadia have proven to be an excellent training ground for High Performance athletes such as these players”, stated Trevor Murphy, Director of Operations for Team Atlantic, “Acadia will provide the environment necessary to properly prepare, evaluate and select the players to move on to the next level.”

Sixty -Six of Atlantic Canada's best under-17 hockey players have been invited to attend the Team Atlantic Summer Hockey Development Festival that will run from July 20th to July 27th on the Acadia University campus. The Acadia campus will be hopping as the coaching staff put the players through their paces over a seven-day schedule. Players will go through a series of off ice and classroom training, on ice practices and daily intrasquad games that will test the limits of competition for the players involved. Ticket information on the games will be available at a later date.

Twenty-two of the invited players will be selected to the Under 17 Team Atlantic, which will participate in the World Under 17 Hockey Challenge in Mount Pearl and St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador, from December 28 –. The 2004 event will mark the 14th time that Team Atlantic has been assembled for an international competition at the Men’s Under 17 level. Other teams participating in the Under 17 World Hockey Challenge include: the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Germany and the United States, as well as other regional teams from Canada.

The Team Atlantic Under 17 Regional team is the first step of Hockey Canada's three-stage Program of Excellence progressing to the Under 18 National Team and ending with the National Junior Team. The primary objectives of the Under-17 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.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Trevor Murphy

Director of Operations, Team Atlantic

(506) 642-0491

[email protected]