Canada announces roster for 2022 World Junior Championship

Hockey Canada announced its 25-player roster for the 2022 World Junior Championship on Monday, to be played in Edmonton, Alta. from Aug. 9- Aug. 20.

The annual tournament, initially scheduled to take place from Dec. 26, 2021- Jan. 5, 2022 in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alta., was cancelled after just three days due to a rise of COVID-19 Omicron variant cases amongst the 10 participating teams.

There will be some changes from the previous roster announced in December. Missing from the roster are forwards Xavier Bourgault, Mavrik Bourque, Dylan Guenther, Jake Neighbours, Cole Perfetti, Justin Sourdif, Shane Wright, and defencemen Kaiden Guhle, and Owen Power.

Replacing those players will be forwards William Dufour, Joshua Roy, Tyson Foerster, Riley Kidney, Nathan Gaucher, Brennan Othmann, Zack Ostapchuk, and defencemen Daemon Hunt, and Jack Thompson.

Highlighting Canada's roster will be 17-year-old phenom Connor Bedard, Columbus Blue Jackets forward Kent Johnson, and Anaheim Ducks prospect Mason McTavish.

Prior to the cancellation in December, Canadian fans were treated to a four-goal performance by a then 16-year-old Bedard against Austria, becoming only the sixth player to score four goals in a World Juniors game. McTavish dominated the first two games of the tournament scoring three goals and five points in two games, while Johnson also scored a goal in two games.

Canada will be a part of Group A which also consists of Slovakia, Finland, Czechia, and Latvia. Group B will include the United States, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria.

Russia was not invited to the tournament due to the ongoing war in the Ukraine and was replaced with Latvia.