Castlegar’s Aaron Hadley of the Vernon Vipers will be absent from the Vipers’ game against Trail Smoke Eaters on Saturday for good reason.
Hadley cracked the Team Canada West lineup for the second year in a row, along with 14 other players from the BCHL for the 2012 World Junior A Challenge, Nov. 5-11 in Yarmouth, N.S..
Players from the B.C. junior league make up the majority of the West team with 15 of 22 skaters on the roster, and will face off against teams from the Czech Republic,and Russia in Pool A, while Pool B includes Canada East, the United States, and Switzerland.
Players named to the Canada West roster were selected from the CJHL’s five western Junior A leagues: the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL), Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL), Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL), Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) and Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL).
“As with any Team Canada roster, there were a number of difficult choices to get us to 22 players,” said Canada West head coach Dean Brockman. “We’re excited about the roster we’ve put together, and we’re confident this team will represent western Canada with pride in Yarmouth.”
All prelims, quarter-finals, semifinals and the bronze medal game can be seen live via webcast through FASTHockey at hockeycanada.fasthockey.com.
Trail hosted the Junior A Challenge in 2007.