Bemidji State sophomore defenseman Zach Whitecloud and Northeastern senior forward Dylan Sikura are among a group of 25 players named to Hockey Canada’s National Team roster for the 2017 Karjala Cup, which will be held Nov. 8-12 in Biel, Switzerland and Helsinki, Finland.
Players in the event are eligible to play for Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, Korea.
“We are bringing together a group of players who are on our radar for the upcoming Olympic Winter Games as part of our ongoing evaluation process, with the goal of fielding the best possible team next February,” said Hockey Canada GM Sean Burke in a statement. “These 26 players are part of the larger group that is still under consideration for the Olympic team; 10 of these players were not with us in August in Russia, while others who remain under consideration won’t join us next month due either to their being unavailable, or because we feel we already have a good sense of where they could fit with our team.
“As a management group and coaching staff, our priority is putting the best possible team together, and we will continue to evaluate every Canadian player that’s eligible to represent their country at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games to ensure we give ourselves the best possible chance for success in Korea.”
Whitecloud and Sikura are the only current NCAA players on the roster.
The Karjala Cup includes national teams from Canada, Czech Republic, Sweden, Russia, Switzerland and Finland.
USA Hockey announced its roster for the Deutschland Cup, held in Germany Nov. 8-12, and no current NCAA players were named to the roster.
