The Whitecourt Wolverines are proud to announce that Morgan Messenger and James Vermeulen have been invited to the Canada West selection camp for the upcoming World Junior A Challenge in Kindersley, Saskatchewan.
Messenger who hails from Barrington, Nova Scotia has 9 goals and 9 assists this season and represented Canada East at last year’s tournament in Yarmouth Nova Scotia.
“It’s something to be proud of, I have the same shot as the 60 other players selected to make the team,” said Messenger. “The experience definitely helps, gets rid of some of the nerves, I know what to expect and I know what level of competition to expect.”
“It’s really exciting to now get a chance to make the west team after playing for the east last year, the west is generally a harder team to make so I’m really excited for the chance this year”, added Messenger.
For the Stony Plain native Vermeulen it’s a case of the good news continuing to roll in. He was named to the selection camp just days after being put on the NHL central scouting’s players to watch list.
“I didn’t really expect it, I knew it was coming up but it was a surprise when I got picked, when coach Bouchard told me I was really excited,” said Vermeulen on his initial reaction. “I’m just going to try and stick to my game, nothing fancy and no mistakes, going to kind of play that shut down roll.”
Vermeulen, who is committed to play for Northern Michigan next season, adds that being coached by Joey Bouchard has helped him continue to grow as a player over the past two seasons, “He’s a hard nosed coach who expects nothing but the best from his players so you get used to that and you come and play your best for him because you understand anything less is unacceptable.”
The selection camp gets underway from the Markin MacPhail Centre in Calgary on Sunday, December 7th. The team is expected to be finalized on either December 9th or 10th with the tournament running from December 14th-20th in Kindersley, Saskatchewan.
The entire Wolverines organization would like to congratulate James and Morgan on their selections and wish them all the best in their pursuit to represent Canada West.