Hockey Canada has invited a Kamloops Blazer and a Kamloops native to try out for this year’s World Junior squad.

Defenseman Harrison Brunicke has been named to Team Canada’s 32 player tryout roster.

Brunicke is currently injured, but expectations are he would be ready to play when Team Canada opens the tournament over the holidays.

The 2nd round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins is one of ten defensemen across the CHL to get the call for training camp, which will also include Kamloops product Sawyer Mynio.

The 19-year old Vancouver Canucks draft pick has 19 points in 17 games for the Seattle Thunderbirds this year, missing several games after suffering a lower body injury at the start of the WHL season.

While Mynio and Brunicke will be headed to Ontario in just over a week for the tryouts, which get underway on December 10th, Blazers captain Emmitt Finnie will not be joining them.

The Detroit Red Wings draft pick was left off Team Canada’s tryout roster, with some suggestion Finnie’s 37 points in 24 games with the Blazers this season could have been enough to get him a seat on the plane.

Team Canada will have one Kamloops Blazer representing the organization during the tournament in Ottawa, as Blazers goalie coach Dan De Palma has been selected as a goaltending consultant for the team.

Both Brunicke and De Palma do have international experience, as both represented Canada in May at the U-18 World Championships in Finland, where Canada won the tournament.

Mynio has worn a Team Canada uniform, playing in the World Junior Summer Showcase in Windsor, Ontario and Plymouth, Michigan, where he would score a pair of goals in the five games he played at the event.

Meanwhile, two of the leading scorers at that Summer Showcase over late July and early August are noticeably absent from the Team Canada invitation list for training camp.

This includes Anaheim’s 3rd overall pick from this summer’s NHL Entry Draft, Beckett Sennecke from the OHL’s Oshawa Generals, as well as the Kelowna Rocket’s Tij Iginla, son of Blazers legend and team co-owner Jerome Iginla, who scored four goals in the Summer Showcase.

Also absent from the invite list is 17 year old Michael Misa from the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit, who currently leads the Ontario Hockey League in scoring and is projected to be a top-five pick in next summer’s NHL Entry Draft.

“We are excited to announce the 32 players who have earned invitations to selections camp in Ottawa and begin the road to our ultimate goal of winning a World Junior Championship gold medal on home ice,” said Al Murray, Hockey Canada’s U20 Head Scout. “This is a talented group of young players that is determined to represent Canada with pride over the holidays, and we expect a highly competitive camp with several difficult decisions when determining our final roster.”

Selections to the tryout roster were made by Murray, the CHL management team and its consultants, who include Blazers goalie coach Dan De Palma.

Meanwhile, a big day for one of those selected for the Team Canada tryouts, as the Lethbridge Hurricanes have acquired star forward Brayden Yager from the Moose Jaw Warriors.

The Winnipeg Jets’ prospect, along with goaltender Jackson Unger, are headed to Alberta, while the Warriors get a lot in return as the defending WHL Champions look to repair the franchise.

This includes 18-year-old forward Landen Ward, 19-year-old netminder Brady Smith, 15-year-old prospect Colt Carter, on top of the Hurricane’s 1st and 3rd round picks in next year’s WHL Draft, as well as Lethbridge’s 4th and 5th round selection in 2026, and then the Hurricane’s first round pick, again, in 2028.

The 19 year old Yager, who saw his rights traded to Winnipeg after being taken by Pittsburgh in the first round of the 2023 NHL Draft, is expected to be a leader for Team Canada when the 2024-25 IIHF World Junior Hockey Tournament gets underway in Ottawa on Boxing Day, December 26th, when Team Canada opens its action against Finland.

Radio NL will be carrying Team Canada’s games from this year’s tournament.