TORONTO, Ont. – Forty of the top under-18 hockey players in the country will step on to the ice at the MasterCard Centre in Toronto starting Friday with hopes of being selected for Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team.

The selection camp runs from Aug. 3-6, with hopefuls split into Red and White squads. The teams will take part in several practices and compete against each other in intrasquad games on Aug. 4, 5 and 6. All practices and games are free of charge to the public. Please note that seating is limited.

There will be no TV or radio coverage of the 2012 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka tournament, but fans can follow all of the action with live updates at www.hockeycanada.ca. Hockey Canada’s official website is also the place to find game summaries, stories, and other features. Updates on Twitter and Facebook will be posted on a regular basis throughout the whole tournament.

At the conclusion of camp, head coach Todd Gill (Cardinal, Ont./Kingston, OHL) and assistant coaches Yanick Jean (Alma, Que./Victoriaville, QMJHL) and Scott Walker (Cambridge, Ont./Guelph, OHL), along with Brad Pascall, Hockey Canada’s vice-president of hockey operations and national teams, and Kevin Prendergast, Hockey Canada’s head scout for the men’s Program of Excellence, will select 22 players for Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team to compete at the 2012 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka tournament in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Canada has won the last four gold medals at the tournament, and seven of the last eight.

The camp roster includes 17 players from the Ontario Hockey League, 13 from the Western Hockey League and 10 from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. In total, 36 players (four goaltenders, 10 defencemen and 22 forwards) competed at the 2012 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, the first step in Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence.

Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team is one of two men’s under-18 teams that Hockey Canada assembles during each season. A second men’s under-18 team will take part in the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship in Sochi, Russia next April, and will be comprised of available players not involved in playoffs with their respective teams.

The under-18 program, along with the regional under-17 program and the national under-20 program, make up Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence, which identifies, evaluates and develops players for international competition.

Thursday, Aug. 2

5:14-7:15 p.m. ET Player arrivals (Terminal 1)Lester B. Pearson International Airport

Information is listed by arrival time. Arrival times are all ET. Flight information may change without notice.

• 5:14 p.m. Aaron Ekblad
• 5:23 p.m. Madison Bowey
• 5:45 p.m. Tommy Veilleux
• 5:47 p.m. Nathan MacKinnon
• 6:01 p.m. Nick Baptiste
• 6:05 p.m. Kayle Doetzel
• 6:06 p.m. Eric Comrie
• 6:15 p.m. Nikolas Brouillard, Jonathan Drouin, Zachary Fucale, Jérémy Grégoire, Yan-Pavel Laplante, Samuel Morin
• 6:24 p.m. Tristan Jarry, Nic Petan, Sam Reinhart, Shea Theodore
• 6:40 p.m. Carter Hansen, Dillon Heatherington, Morgan Klimchuk, Josh Morrissey
• 6:58 p.m. Matt Murphy
• 7:15 p.m. Curtis Lazar, Matt Needham

Francis Dupont, Hockey Canada’s manager of media relations, will be on site in Toronto for the selection camp. He will be handling all interview requests and can be reached at 587-999-5681 or [email protected]. 

For more information on Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team and Hockey Canada, please visit www.hockeycanada.ca, or follow along through social media at www.facebook.com/hockeycanada, www.twitter.com/hockeycanada and www.twitter.com/hc_teamcanada.