Vancouver Giants forward Cameron Schmidt is one of 22 players selected to compete for Canada at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, which runs Aug. 5 to 10 in Edmonton, Alta.
Canada will look to defend its Gold Medal. This comes following Hockey Canada鈥檚 national men鈥檚 summer U-18 Selection Camp, which ran July 27 to 30 in Calgary. The Hlinka Gretzky Cup is an annual summer U18 tournament that is the first opportunity for scouts to see NHL draft-eligible prospects in their draft year, 10 months ahead of the draft.
"Cameron had an excellent tournament at last year's U17s and we are pleased to see him earn another opportunity to represent his country," Giants general manager Barclay Parneta said. "We look forward to watching him on the international stage in Edmonton next week."
Among the two goaltenders, seven defencemen and 13 forwards that were named to the roster are nine players that won gold for Canada White at the 2023 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, including Schmidt, who scored the Golden Goal last November, potting the overtime winner in a 2-1 victory over the United States.
Five players also won a gold medal with Canada鈥檚 National Men鈥檚 Under-18 Team at the 2024 IIHF U18 World Championship (Desnoyers, Hamilton, Ivankovic, McKenna, Schaefer).
鈥淭his is a group of accomplished athletes that have earned this opportunity to represent their country and defend a gold medal,鈥� Dave Brown said, the U18 lead for the Program of Excellence management group. 鈥淭he opportunity to play for Canada on home ice isn鈥檛 something that happens often, and we鈥檙e excited for this group and what lies ahead.鈥�
Prior to the start of the tournament, Team Canada will take on Slovakia on Aug. 1 at Bill Hunter Arena, and Czechia on Aug. 3 at the Downtown Community Arena.
Canada opens the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup against Switzerland on Aug. 5. It will also face Slovakia and Sweden in the preliminary round before the tournament concludes with the medal games on Aug. 10.
Canada has won 24 gold medals in 32 years of summer under-18 competition, along with three silver medals and one bronze.
Canada played two pre-tournament games, during which Schmidt recorded four points. On August 1, he had a pair of assists in a win over Slovakia and on August 3, he scored a goal and added a helper in a loss to Czechia.
Monday's contest was the first of three preliminary-round games, as Canada will also face Slovakia on Tuesday and Sweden on Wednesday.
