Team Canada announced on Monday their official roster for the rescheduled 2022-23 IIHF World Junior Championship, set to get underway on August 9 in Edmonton. Washington Capitals forward prospect Hendrix Lapierre, 20, who was an invite to the previous two camps and cut from both of the final rosters, did not make this year’s roster.
Lapierre said he would give it a third try if he was called by Team Canada for the rescheduled tournament in August. “Anytime you can represent your country, it’s special. If I receive the invitation, for sure I would like to go.”
Players that may have normally aged-out (20 or older) have been permitted to participate in this years rescheduled event. You may recall that the originally scheduled event back in December was cancelled in the middle of the tournament after several teams experienced outbreaks of Covid-19. The tournament will now be replayed in it’s entirety.
Lapierre will now set his sights on Capitals training camp in September and prepare for his first season in the AHL.
Team Canada’s final roster:
Capitals prospects currently set to participate in the tournament include forwards Oskar Magnusson (Sweden) and Haakon Hanelt (Germany).
Setting The Stage
Canada, Finland, Czechia, Slovakia and Latvia will play in Group A while the United States, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and Austria will compete in Group B. The top-four teams if each group will make the quarter-finals.
All games will be played at Rogers Place in Edmonton, with usually two or three games per day during the preliminary round that will end on 15 August. The four quarter-final games will be played on August 17 with Canada playing the third quarter-final game at 17:00 if qualified.
The semi-final games follow on 19 August. Host Canada if qualified or the team with the best preliminary-round records otherwise will play the early semi-final game at 14:00. The second semi-final game will be played at 18:00. The medal games are set for August 20.
It will be the first time since 1988 that all World Juniors games will be held at one venue with fans in attendance.
With the release of the game schedule single-game tickets have been released and can be purchased for as low as $40 while packages remain available. Click here to buy tickets.
By Jon Sorensen
It’s a mystery why he can’t make Team Canada. Probably political.
Well he is 20 but turned 20 this year. Could it be that he has played in the NHL? Oh well would ahve been fun to watch him play however it is also better that he can perpare for the NHL with the Caps and not be coming off a rough tournament. If you remember the show Bones, we could be like Hodgens and shout “Conspiracy!!”. LMAO!!! They dont like Caps players in Canada…..Conspiracy!!
Because of Covid, he was permitted a third/final year of eligibility for the team.
I agree, he needs to move on from whatever the issue was with Team Canada.
Get your American citizenship Jimmy, we’ll take you. 👍
not worried. He was in that unfortunate group that lost so much playing time due to the pandemic and he hasn’t caught up, yet. He’ll be fine. He’s got the makings of a 1 or 2C if all the chips fall the right way.