Bedard, Celebrini among those invited to Canadian men's Olympic hockey camp

The past, present and future of Canadian men's hockey will meet at a Hockey Canada national team orientation camp in Calgary later this month.

Young stars Connor Bedard (Chicago Blackhawks) and Macklin Celebrini (San Jose Sharks) will join Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins), Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche) and Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers), who have already been named to the Canadian men's Olympic team, for three days of off-ice meetings, team building and presentations.

Much was made about Bedard's omission from the 4 Nations Face-Off team earlier this year after a difficult season with the Blackhawks. But both he and Celebrini, who starred alongside Crosby at the world championship this past spring, will have a chance to prove they belong at the Olympics.

They're four of 42 NHL players invited to the camp, and will be joined by players vying to make the Canadian women's and Para hockey teams that will compete for gold in Milano Cortina in February. 

"While the next several months will bring intense evaluation and difficult roster decisions, we look forward to kicking off the season in Calgary and giving our athletes and staff a chance to come together and start to become one team as we set our sights on February," Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada's senior vice-president of high performance and hockey operations, said in a statement.

The first six players on the men's team were named in June: Crosby, McDavid, MacKinnon, Cale Makar (Colorado Avalanche), Brayden Point (Tampa Bay Lightning) and back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Sam Reinhart (Florida Panthers).

Four other Panthers are competing to join Reinhart on the Olympic team: defenceman Aaron Ekblad and forwards Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand and Carter Verhaeghe.

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