A Winnipeg Jets prospect, a member of the Brandon Wheat Kings, and two Manitobans will all get a crack at Canada’s National Junior Team for the upcoming annual Christmas tournament.
Strathclair’s Conor Geekie, Dominion City’s Denton Mateychuk, Wheaties captain Nate Danielson, and goalie Domenic DiVincentiis are among the 30 players to receive an invite to Canada’s National Junior Team selection camp.
The 19-year-old Geekie earned a tryout after surprisingly being passed over by Hockey Canada a year ago. The former Winnipeg Ice forward and current member of the WHL’s Wenatchee Wild is the WHL’s player of the week. He’s averaged nearly a goal per game with 20 goals and 29 assists in only 25 contests this season.
Geekie is a first round draft pick of the Arizona Coyotes after being selected 11th overall in 2022.
Mateychuk also did not receive an invite last year. The 19-year-old just set the Moose Jaw Warriors team record for longest point streak with a 21-game streak. The Columbus Blue Jackets first round pick has 33 points in his first 21 games.
Danielson is a Detroit Red Wings draft pick and the Alberta product is fourth on his team in scoring after missing the start of the season while attending an NHL training camp.
DiVincentiis is one of only four goalies getting a tryout. He’s in his third season with the OHL’s North Bay Battalion and is a seventh round draft pick of the Jets.
He missed time with an injury earlier in the season but has appeared in 15 OHL games.
The selection camp begins on Dec. 10. Canada’s first game of the tournament in Sweden is scheduled for Boxing Day against Finland.