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Canada’s world juniors opened their bid for 2022 hockey supremacy Thursday night in Calgary.
A camp chalked full of phenoms — 33 in all — took to the ice of WinSport’s Markin MacPhail Centre, hoping to kick-start what is a dream trip ending in gold 27 days from now up the road in Edmonton.
“It sucked,” said Cole Perfetti, recalling the 2-0 loss in the 2021 gold-medal game to the United States in the same rink — Rogers Place — where they hope to return for this year’s finale. “We have our mind set on the gold-medal game on Jan. 5. We’re looking forward to that.
“And I’m just excited.”
For Perfetti (Whitby, Ont./Manitoba, AHL) and two others — goaltender Dylan Garand and (Victoria, B.C./Kamloops, WHL) and Kaiden Guhle (Sherwood Park, Alta./Prince Albert, WHL) — there’s a measure of redemption — or vengeance — that comes with such excitement.
They are the three returnees from last year’s silver squad — each one looking to change the outcome a year later at the IIHF World Junior Championship, hosted in Edmonton and Red Deer.
And they’ll be joined by 22 new faces in the battle once the final roster is pared down following the four days of camp here. The hopefuls include three goaltenders, 11 defencemen and 19 forwards.
“It’s a new year — it’s a fresh group,” said 19-year-old Perfetti, the only player on the Canadian roster currently playing professional hockey. “There’s a lot of new new faces, and everyone’s really hungry.”
Head coach Dave Cameron will found out just who is hungriest during the five-day camp at WinSport, which features two games — Saturday (8 p.m. ET) and Sunday (4 p.m. ET) — against the U SPORTS All-Stars.
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Cameron confirmed following Thursday’s opening pair of on-ice sessions that he plans on having his select squad finalized before Monday’s departure from WinSport.
What’s known for sure is the three goaltenders in camp — Garand, Brett Brochu (Belle River, Ont./London, OHL) and Sebastian Cossa (Fort McMurray, Alta./Edmonton, WHL) — have already been named to the roster.
And Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada’s VP of hockey operations, announced Thursday that forward Kent Johnson (Port Moody, B.C./Michigan, NCAA) is on the roster despite being absent from camp on Day 1. The highly skilled offensive dynamo is currently in COVID protocol but is expected to join Canada’s force next week.
“We felt that Kent Johnson was a lock to make our team,” Salmond said. “We do expect Kent to be part of our national junior team moving forward.”
Two others also didn’t hit the ice for the first sessions of camp. Forward Mason McTavish (Carp, Ont./Peterborough, OHL) is awaiting test results after having returned an inconclusive one Thursday. And defenceman Lukas Cormier (Sainte-Marie-de-Kent, N.B./Charlottetown, QMJHL) arrived late after his flight was delayed. Both are expected to be on the ice for Friday’s session.
One player from the original 35 invited to camp — Jack Thompson (Courtice, Ont./Sudbury, OHL) — went into COVID protocol as well but will not join the squad, with Salmond identifying the blueliner as having needed the weekend skates to earn a shot at the roster.
Meanwhile, a handful of NHLers eligible for Canada’s crew didn’t make it to Calgary, either. Quinton Byfield (Los Angeles Kings), Jamie Drysdale (Anaheim Ducks), Seth Jarvis (Carolina Hurricanes) and Cole Sillinger (Columbus Blue Jackets) remain in the big leagues for now, but Salmond says he is having ongoing conversations with the Hurricanes and Blue Jackets about the possible availability of Jarvis and Sillinger respectively. Canada has until Dec. 15 to make such a decision to happen for the two centremen.
“The doors not closed on them,” Salmond added. “We’ll continue to monitor that situation as we move into the next phase of our preparation.”
The next phase after one final practice here Monday is moving on to Banff for a week of training camp. They then play Switzerland in a pre-tournament exhibition game Dec. 19 at the Peavey Mart Centrium in Red Deer.
And — finally — the world juniors begins on Boxing Day against the Czech Republic in Edmonton (5 p.m., TSN).
tsaelhof@postmedia.com