PIESTANY, Slovakia – Head coach Jody Hull announced Sunday that Travis Konecny (Clachan, Ont./Ottawa OHL) will serve as captain of Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team at the 2014 U18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup, which begins Monday in Breclav, Czech Republic and Piestany, Slovakia.

In addition, Hull also announced that Nick Merkley (Calgary, Alta./Kelowna, WHL) and Jérémy Roy (Richelieu, Que./Sherbrooke, QMJHL) will serve as alternate captains during the tournament.

The 2014 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka tournament will open for Canada against Switzerland on Monday, Aug. 11 at 8 a.m. ET/5 a.m. PT. Canada will also face Slovakia and Sweden in preliminary round play.

The top two teams from each preliminary round group will advance to the semifinals on Friday, Aug. 15, with the semifinal winners facing off in the gold medal game, scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 16.

Webcasts of Canada’s preliminary round games in Piestany at the 2014 U18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup will be available online. To watch, CLICK HERE.

In its lone pre-tournament game Saturday, Canada got two goals and an assist from Lawson Crouse (Mount Brydges, Ont./Kingston, OHL) and a goal and a helper each from Konecny, Mitchell Marner (Thornhill, Ont./London, OHL) and Matthew Spencer (Oakville, Ont./Peterborough, OHL) to beat the Czech Republic 7-5.

NOTE TO MEDIA: All media inquiries during the 2014 U18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup can be directed to Francis Dupont, Hockey Canada’s manager of communications, who can be reached at [email protected]. 

For more information on Hockey Canada and Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team, 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_men.