Notes

• Kole Lind, Jonah Gadjovich, and Michael DiPietro are in St. Catherines, Ontario this week at the succinctly named Canada’s Nation Junior Team Sport Chek Selection Camp. There are 32 players there at the moment (28 skaters, four goaltenders), fighting for 22 spots. They began practicing yesterday, and will now play exhibition games over the next three days: today and tomorrow against a U SPORTS team, and then against Denmark on Friday. The first cuts are expected following the final exhibition game. Their first pre-tournament match is against the Czechs on December 20th.
• Will Lockwood’s selection camp with USA Hockey begins on Friday, and you can find a full practice schedule here. There are 28 American players vying for 23 spots, which should be finalized by December 23rd. Lockwood is seen as the longest shot among the six Canucks prospects to make his respective squad, however some like his chances because of how well he adapts to all types of roles, whereas many players struggle to play in other styles besides the pure top six offensive roles that they’re used to.
• Olli Juolevi’s camp with Finland also begins on Friday in Niagara Falls, USA. Juolevi is a lock for the Finnish squad, and a good bet to be the team’s captain – a role he held last year as well. They’ll be looking to repeat the success they had on home soil two years ago (when they won gold in Helsinki) and avoid what happened last year (a trip to the relegation round) at all costs. Juolevi will be joined by his assistant coach in Turku, Canucks legend Sami Salo.
• Elias Pettersson will join Sweden’s national junior team this week, but first he had some business with the Champions Hockey League. Because I’m a couple of days late, this game has already been played. Yesterday, the Vaxjo Lakers beat SC Bern 4-2 in the second leg of the quarterfinals. Having lost the first leg 3-2, they needed a multi-goal victory, and they got it, defeating SC Bern 6-5 in aggregate and advancing to the semi-finals, which will take place in mid-January.
• Lukas Jasek will also be heading the Champions League semi-finals, as Liberec defeated Zurich 2-1 in aggregate to advance to the next round. Jasek has played a fairly important role with the White Tigers, producing six points in 10 Champions League games so far.
• Jack Rathbone’s Dexter School is taking part in a tournament this week in Groton, Massachusetts, with four games between Thursday and Saturday. Statistics from high school games have been extremely hard to come across, so we’re not entirely sure how Rathbone is even doing yet over his first handful of games.
• There isn’t much going on overseas this week, as the KHL and SHL are taking a break and most Liiga and Allsvenskan teams are playing just a single game. The North American pro teams are still playing their typical allotment, but other than that, it’s a pretty lean week.