Three Vees named to Team Canada West

The Penticton Vees are going to be down a few key players this weekend as they take on the Wenatchee Wildin a home and home series.

Three Vees have made it onto the Team Canada West roster and are heading to the 2018 World Junior A Challenge, which begins this weekend.

Massimo RIzzo, David Silye and Mason Snell are all headed to Bonnyville, Alta for the tournament, which runs from Dec. 9 to 16. Rizzo and Silye are assigned to left and right wing, respectively, with Snell on defence.

Related:Four Vees named to Canada West team for WJAC

The roster of 13 forwards, seven defencemen and two goaltenders is made up of players from the BCHL, Alberta and Manitoba Junior Hockey Leagues. Players from the Saskatchewan and the Superior International Junior Hockey Leagues also tried out but none were able to make the final roster.

The tournament runs from Dec. 9 to 16 in Bonnyville, Alta. This year, the WJAC is a five-team round-robin tournament as opposed to the six-team event with two pools as it had been in years’ past. The other teams competing this year are Canada East, Russia, the United States and the Czech Republic.

Team Canada West is the defending gold medalist in the WJAC as they prevailed 5-1 over the United States in last year’s event in Truro, N.S. That team contained four players from the Vees: Demico Hannoun, who was named to the team for a second time along with Tyson Jost, Gabe Bast and Dante Fabbro.

Related:Jost, Fabbro and Canada West playing for WJAC gold