Game On Magazine - April 2017 Game on Preview Edition | Page 4

o m g h o c k e y s t o ry O F THE M O N TH
By Johnston Hall
Photos courtesy Hockey Canada
Five Manitobans Could Play in the 2018 Non-NHL Olympics
Here come the Manitoba
hockey players. Of course, that
shouldn’t surprise anyone.
Now that the National Hockey
League has formally announced
that NHL players will not
participate in the 2018 Winter
Olympics in PyeongChang, South
Korea, there is now a chance
that five Manitobans could play
for Team Canada.
Two Manitobans, Winnipeg’s
Kevin Clark and Morden’s Chay
Genoway were named to Hockey
Canada’s roster for the 2017
IIHF Sochi Hockey Open while
three more Manitobans – Ryan
Garbutt, Jacob Micflikier and
Cam Barker, all from Winnipeg –
were named to Hockey Canada’s
roster for the 2017 IIHF
Tournament of Nikolai Puchkov.
Ryan Garbutt
Jacob Micflikier
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The two rosters also included
former Winnipeg Jets’ Eric
O’Dell, Ben Maxwell and James
Wright; former Manitoba Moose
forward Mason Raymond;
former Brandon Wheat Kings’
defenseman Rob Klinkhammer;
and former Waywayseecappo
Wolverines forward Sean Collins.
Canada finished third at the
Sochi Hockey Open, beating
Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the
KHL, 3-1 in the bronze medal
game. Raymond led Canada with
a pair of goals while Clark and
O’Dell assisted on Raymond’s
second goal.
Canada also won the
bronze medal at the 2017 IIHF
Tournament of Nikolai Puchkov.
Garbutt, had a goal and an
assist, to lead Canada to a
4-0 win over SKA Neva in the
third-place game. Former NHLer
Ben Scrivens got the shutout for
Team Canada.
The roster announcements
followed on the heels of Hockey
Canada’s decision to hire former
NHL goaltender Sean Burke as
Team Canada’s general manager
and Willie Desjardins as the
head coach.
According to Hockey
Canada officials, with the
National Hockey League officially
out of Olympic competition,
these two summer tournaments
served as “informal Team
Canada Olympic tryouts.”
Burke explained that a
number of former NHL players
could be available by February
as well as high-level junior
players or players on AHL-only
contracts, but for now, “these
two events have served as an
opportunity to scout 46 different
players that we know will be
available to Team Canada for
the 2018 Winter Games in
PyeongChang, South Korea.”
The Road to PyeongChang
is scheduled to continue in
November. Canada will take
on Switzerland in an exhibition
game on Nov. 8, in Zurich before
participating in the Karjala Cup
in Helsinki, from Nov. 9-12.
Many of the Manitobans who
played in these two summer
tournaments are expected to
suit up for Canada once again in
November.
Cam Barker
Chay Genoway
Kevin Clark