Tyson Jost and Dante Fabbro have been named to Team Canada’s under-18 team.
The Vees captains will take to the ice for the 2015 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup, Aug. 10-15 in Breclav, Czech Republic and Bratislava, Slovakia. The Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup showcases the top draft eligible players from Europe and North America. Team Canada opens against the Czechs on Aug. 10.
Fabbro and Jost are the only BCHLers named to the 22-man roster.
“This is a skilled group of players that will represent Canada and be ready to compete,” said Canada head coach Stan Butler on the Hockey Canada website. “We look forward to getting the group together to travel to Europe and prepare for the tournament.”
Jost, who will captain the Vees in 2015-2016, had a terrific rookie season in the BCHL last year. The then 16 year old averaged nearly a point per-game in the regular season, with 23 goals and 45 points in 46 games. His performance earned him a spot on the BCHL All-Rookie team. He continued his strong play in the BCHL playoffs scoring a team best 10 goals in 21 games en route to a Fred Page Cup Championship. Jost continued his dominance at the Western Canada Cup (WCC), compiling five goals and six points as the Vees won their first ever WCC Championship. Jost was named the tournament’s top forward and top scorer, helping guide the team to an RBC Cup berth in Portage la Prairie, Man.
Fabbro, who will wear an ‘A’ this season, was the third-highest scoring defencemen on the Vees roster, compiling 33 points in 44 games. as a 16-year-old. His regular season efforts earned him a spot on the BCHL All-Rookie team alongside Jost. In the playoffs Fabbro was the team’s highest scoring defenceman with 15 points in 21 games. His play didn’t dip on the national stage. He picked up three points in five games at the RBC Cup and was named the tournament’s top defenceman.
Fabbro and Jost missed 12 regular season games due to international duty at the World Under-17 Challenge and the World Junior ‘A’ Challenge.
Canada has won gold for the past seven years at the Ivan Hlinka Cup and is the all-time winningest country at the tournament, owning 19 gold medals. They have only finished outside of the medals twice in the tournament’s 24-year history.
Canada will face Slovakia in a pre-tournament game in Trnava, Slovakia on Saturday, Aug. 8 before opening the tournament against the Czech Republic on Monday, Aug. 10. The top two teams from each group advance to the semifinals on Friday, Aug. 14, with the gold medal game scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 15.