Tri-City hockey fans will have one of their own to cheer when Team Canada hits the ice on Boxing Day for its first game at the IIHF World Junior Championship.
Port Moody’s Kent Johnson has been named to the squad that will look to improve upon the silver medal it earned at last year’s tournament that was played in a bubble in Edmonton.
This year’s competition will also be in Edmonton, as well as Red Deer, with fans allowed in the buildings.
Johnson is in his sophomore season at the University of Michigan. He has four goals and 19 assists in 17 games.
As a freshman last year, he scored nine goals and added 18 assists in 26 games.
He was subsequently selected fifth overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2021 NHL Draft.
This will be Johnson’s first appearance at the World Juniors, but he did play for Team Canada West in the 2019 World Junior ‘A’ Challenge when he was a member of the Trail Smoke Eaters in the BC Hockey League (BCHL).
Meanwhile, another local player, Coquitlam’s Vincent Iorio, didn’t survive the cut from 35 players that were invited to Team Canada’s selection camp in Calgary that ended Sunday.
Iorio patrols the blue line for the Brandon Wheat Kings in the Western Hockey League where he has 10 points in 17 games this season. He was selected in the second round — 55th overall — of last summer’s NHL Draft by the Washington Capitals and in October, he signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the NHL club.
Iorio played one pre-season game for the Capitals, then was assigned back to Brandon for his fourth season in the WHL.
- with files from Kyle Balzer, Tri-City News
