On Boxing Day (Dec. 26), Nic Petan will begin a second attempt at a gold medal at the World Junior Hockey Championships.
The North Delta native and member of the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League (WHL) is among 22 players named to the final roster of Team Canada, which will start play at the 10-team tournament tomorrow at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
Toronto and Montreal will be the host teams for the competition, which will conclude with medal games Jan. 5 in Toronto. Canada will play all four round robin games in Montreal, including tomorrow’s game at 5 p.m. (PST) against Slovakia
Petan played for Canada at the 2014 tournament in Malmo, Sweden and was fourth in team scoring with four goals and an assist in seven games played. Canada lost 2-1 to Russia in the bronze medal game.
Listed as five-foot-nine, 170-pounds, the 19-year-old forward is one of seven players on Team Canada who wore the national team jersey in Malmo a year ago. Goaltender Zach Fucale of the Halifax Mooseheads, defenceman Joshua Morrisey of the Kelowna Rockets, and forwards Frederik Gauther of the Rimouski Oceanic, Connor McDavid of the Erie Otters, Curtis Lazar of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators and Sam Reinhart of the Kootenay Ice are the other returnees.
In 26 WHL games this season, Petan has six goals and 27 assists for 33 points. He missed Portland’s first seven games of the season while in camp with the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League. He was drafted by the Jets in the second round, 43rd overall, in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft after netting a career-best 46 goals and 120 points in the 2012-13 season. He shared the WHL scoring title.
Last season, he tallied 35 times and totaled 113 points in 63 games played, missing nine games while at the World Junior tournament.
- North Delta’s Demico Hannoun was in Kindersley, Saskatchewan for the World Junior A Challenge Dec. 14-20.
A member of the BC Hockey League’s Penticton Vees and a former Surrey Eagle, Hannoun played for Canada West at the six-team tournament. He had an assist in four games played. Canada West placed sixth with a win and three losses.
In 30 games this season with the Vees, Hannoun has 16 goals and 28 points. A member of the Surrey Eagles from 2011-13, he has committed to play for Michigan Tech next season.