Vincent Iorio, the Washington Capitals second-round draft pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, is really looking forward to the month of December. Iorio was invited to Canada’s National Junior Team selection camp, which opens in Calgary, Alberta on Thursday.
“I’m very excited,” Iorio said of the invitation. “Obviously it’s going to be a challenge but the end goal for Ridly (Grieg) and I is to make the team and help the team out as much as we can. We’re really looking forward to it and working hard to be a part of that team.”
The national camp includes three goalies, who have already made the team, 11 defensemen and 21 forwards. Iorio will depart for Calgary immediately following the Wheat Kings game against the Moose Jaw Warriors on Wednesday night.
“It’s a little bit of a fantasy,” Iorio said. “You watch the world juniors growing up as a kid and it’s putting on the Maple Leaf sweater you get as a kid. To be able to be part of a camp like this … I’m at a loss for words.”
Iorio, who turned 19 three weeks ago, is in his fourth season with the Brandon Wheat Kings and has 51 points in 151 regular season WHL games.
How Swede It Is
In other Capitals prospect news heading into the World Junior Championships, forward Oskar Magnusson, drafted by the Capitals in the seventh round of the 2020 NHL entry draft, was notified on Wednesday he has been invited to Team Sweden’s Junior selection camp which begins this weekend.
The 2022 World Junior Championship begins on December 26.
By Jon Sorensen
