A trio of hockey players from Delta who helped Team B.C. win gold at the 2010 Canada Winter Games have been named to Team Pacific for the 2012 World Under 17 Hockey Challenge, slated for Dec. 29 to Jan. 4 in Windsor, On.
Goaltender Tristan Jarry, defenceman Macoy Erkamps and forward Nicolas Petan were among 11 players named to the Pacific team that also features 11 more from Alberta.
The final roster announcement concludes an extensive selection process that began with a provincial camp over the summer to identify a shortlist of players. They were then evaluated during the first part of the club team season by a selected group of high performance evaluators.
"We're very excited about the talented group of athletes we're bringing to this competition," said Team Pacific head coach, Michael Dyck.
"We feel we have the right pieces in place to compete against the top teams in Windsor next month."
Erkamps, Jarry and Petan each played for the Greater Vancouver Canadians of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League last season. All three are now in their rookie campaigns in the Western Hockey League.
Erkamps has seven points in 24 games with the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Jarry has made three appearances in net for the Edmonton Oil Kings and owns a 1-1 record with a 1.57 goals against average and a .902 save percentage.
Petan has 15 points in 25 games with the Portland Winterhawks, including four goals.
Richmond native and Vancouver Giants rookie Anthony Ast, who played for Greater Vancouver last season, was also named to Team Pacific.
"Now that the team is solidified, we can focus on bringing this group together and preparing them to compete at a very high level," added Dyck. "Preparation is key for a short-term competition like this and we look forward to beginning the process with the 22 players."
The 2011 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge will bring together the top players in the world born in 1995 or later. The tournament is made up of 10 teams; five from Canada - Quebec, Ontario, Pacific, Atlantic (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island) and West (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nunavut), and five International teams Germany, Sweden, Russia, Czech Republic and the United States.
