Stage set for world U-17 series
Eight teams will look to strike gold in Sault Ste. Marie when the 2016 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge will be staged from Oct. 30 to Nov. 5.
In partnership with the Canadian Hockey League and Ontario Hockey Federation, Hockey Canada released the schedule that will feature Team Canada Black, Team Canada White, the Czech Republic and United States as part of Group A with Team Canada Red, Finland, Russia and Sweden making up Group B.
“This is a major international event for Hockey Canada, one of the biggest it runs on an annual basis, and to be able to bring the best 16-year-old hockey players from around the world to the City of Sault Ste. Marie is such an amazing opportunity,” said Cathy Chlebus, host committee co-chair. “The players who will be on the ice are the best of the best in their age group and fans should be excited to see some of the future stars of the game.”
Action will get underway on Sunday, Oct. 30 when Team Canada Red takes on Finland at 12 noon. Preliminary round play will conclude on Nov. 1 before teams head into the quarter-finals on Nov. 3.
The gold-medal game will be played at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5 at the Essar Centre. The gold-medal match will be broadcast live on TSN.
A full-tournament ticket package, which includes tickets to all 17 games at the Essar Centre, is available for purchase. Tickets to the five games at the John Rhodes Community Centre will be sold at the door.
The City of Sault Ste. Marie previously partnered with Hockey Canada to play host to the 2013 Telus Cup (Canada’s national midget championship) with a profit of $87,500 that was reinvested into supporting community hockey programs in the Soo.
Of note, since the first World Under-17 Hockey Challenge (then known as the Quebec Esso Cup) was held in 1986, more than 1,600 National Hockey League draft picks have played in the tournament including 13 of the last 16 first-overall selections — Ilya Kovalchuk, 2001; Rick Nash, 2002; Marc-André Fleury, 2003; Alexander Ovechkin, 2004; Erik Johnson, 2006; Patrick Kane, 2007; John Tavares, 2009; Taylor Hall, 2010; Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 2011; Nathan MacKinnon, 2013; Aaron Ekblad, 2014; Connor McDavid, 2015; Auston Matthews, 2016.
For more information on the 2016 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, visit HockeyCanada.ca/HC_WU17