Three members of the Lakehead Thunderwolves hockey team have been invited to the training camp for the team to represent Canada at the 25th World University Winter Games.
Forwards Matt Caria (sophomore, Sault St. Marie, ON) and Kris Hogg (senior, Sicamous, BC), as well as defenceman Jordan Smith (5th year senior, Sault St. Marie, ON) have been invited to the training camp to be held in London, Ontario beginning December 10th. The camp will conclude on December 14th with a game pitting the OUA All-Stars against the Canadian World Junior Team.
31 players (4 goalies, 11 defencemen, 16 forwards) from various OUA teams have received invitations to the camp. It is expected that the final roster will be trimmed down to about 25 by the end of the camp. The teams Head Coach is Western Ontarios Clarke Singer, and the assistants are Brian Bourque of Waterloo and Kevin Figsby from Concordia.
The World University Games are governed by the International University Sports Federation (also known as FISU). The Games take place every two years, but the Canadian hockey team is represented by a different conference each time on a rotating basis. The Canada West and the AUS have represented the last two Canadian teams, so this year is the OUAs turn.
The last time the OUA team represented Canada at the World University Games was in 2005, and five Thunderwolves (Joel Scherban, Jeff Richards, Murray Magill, Peter Cava, and Erik Lodge) were selected to the squad that competed in Innsbruck, Austria.
If Caria, Hogg or Smith makes the final cut, they will be heading to Erzurum, Turkey to compete in the Games from January 27th to February 6th, 2011.