FREDERICTON – The 22 have been chosen. Team Canada has announced their roster for the 2013 Winter Universiade, which is made up entirely of players from the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) conference.
“It’s unbelievable, any chance to represent your country is something pretty special,” said Saint Mary’s forward Lucas Bloodoff.
The roster is comprised of three goaltenders, seven defensemen and 12 forwards. One alternate has also been named.
“We wanted the players to make it a difficult decision for us. We just didn’t realize how difficult they were going to make it,” head coach Gardiner MacDougall said.
An All-Star game was held November 8th and from the 42 players on display that night the current squad was selected. A cut was made the next day to 29 players before the final six players were cut to finalize the roster.
“We have a number of provinces represented,” MacDougall said. “We wanted to be truly Canadian but truly AUS.”
The final cuts proved to be difficult for MacDougall and his staff, saying, “we released some guys who are good players and good people.”
One of the determining factors that MacDougall specifically sought after was players who had a high work ethic and could work together as a team.
“I think work ethic is three things; it’s your intensity level, it’s your smarts, and it’s your grit level,” he said. “It’s terrific to see the competitors we have here but yet they’ve really quickly put that aside to come together as one.”
Canada will be one of the favourites for the tournament and MacDougall says if the team can improve over the duration of the event then that should lead them to success.
Lucas Bloodoff
“We have one month to get better. What we can control is that we have a foundation in place, we will bring Canadian work ethic, Canadian passion, Canadian smarts, we’ll bring those factors and we want to be the most improved team in the tournament. If we can be the most improved team in the tournament then we will have an opportunity to have success.”
Competing at the Winter Universiade is a once in a lifetime moment for the players due to the rotating policy that Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) has in place, meaning that it’s every six years that each of three conferences get a chance to send a team.
For Bloodoff winning a gold medal would cap off a special year, a year in which he took his side to the AUS title game, the national title game and won the AUS League MVP.
But he also takes pride in battling on the ice with his fellow Canadians while wearing that iconic Team Canada sweater.
“I definitely want to be in a position where I am fighting with the rest of the guys in the tournament wearing that maple leaf.”
TEAM CANADA ROSTER
Goaltenders
Jonathan Groenheyde, St. Thomas (2nd year – Surrey, B.C.)
Anthony Peters, Saint Mary’s (3rd year – Blyth, Ont.)
Wayne Savage, UPEI (4th year – St. Thomas, Ont.)
Defencemen
Josh Day, StFX (5th year – St. John’s, N.L)
Marc-Antoine Desnoyers, UNB (4th year – Saint-Hippolyte, Que.)
Michael D’Orazio, Saint Mary’s (3rd year – Richmond Hill, Ont.)
Simon Lacroix, Moncton (4th year – Orleans, Ont.)
Matthew Maione, UPEI (4th year – Unionville, Ont.)
Christopher Owens, Acadia (4th year – St. John’s, N.L.)
Alex Wall, UPEI (3rd year – Mount Pearl, N.L.)
Forwards
Lucas Bloodoff, Saint Mary’s (4th year – Castlegar, B.C.)
Tyler Carroll, UNB (3rd year – Strathroy, Ont.)
Mike Cazzola, Acadia (2nd year – Guelph, Ont.)
Chris Culligan, UNB (5th year – Howie Centre, N.S.)
Chris Desousa, UPEI (3rd year – Mississauga, Ont.)
Eric Faille, Moncton (4th year – Lachine, Que.)
Liam Heelis, Acadia (3rd year – Georgetown, Ont.)
Michael Kirkpatrick, StFX (3rd year – North Sydney, N.S.)
Nick MacNeil, UNB (4th year – Creignish, N.S.)
Rob Slaney, StFX (4th year – Portugal Cove, N.L.)
Cory Tanaka, Saint Mary’s (5th year – Stouffville, Ont.)
Pierre Vandall, Dalhousie (4th year – Saint-Louis de France, Que.)
Alternate (forward)
Jason Bast, StFX (4th year – Regina, Sask.)
STAFF
General Manager: Danny Lynch (UNB)
Head Coach: Gardiner MacDougall (UNB)
Assistant Coach: Brad Peddle (StFX)
Assistant Coach: Forbes MacPherson (UPEI)
Video Coach: Todd Sparks (UNB)
Equipment Manager: Serge LeBlanc (Moncton)
Therapist: Joe Glenn (UNB)
Matt Tidcombe, FISU Young Reporter/CAN