Three former BCHL players have been named to Canada’s roster for the upcoming World Hockey Championships in Slovakia.
Former Burnaby Express forward Kyle Turris and Penticton Vees grads Troy Stecher and Dante Fabbro were selected to Team Canada for the tournament which runs from May 10-26 in Košice and Bratislava, Slovakia.
This will be the third World Championship appearance for Turris, now a member of the Nashville Predators. He has previously played in the tournament in 2013 as well as last year and also represented Canada at the 2007 U18 World Championships and the 2008 World Junior Championships where he won gold. Turris, a New Westminster, B.C. native, played two seasons for the Express from 2005 to 2007, piling up 96 goals and 87 assists for 183 points in 105 regular-season games. He also won a Fred Page Cup title and a National Championship during the 2006 season.
Stecher will be playing for Team Canada for the first time in his career. The 25-year-old from Richmond, B.C. played three seasons in Penticton from 2010 to 2013, including one as team captain, totaling 109 points (18 goals, 91 assists) in 159 games over his career. Stecher, now a member of the Vancouver Canucks, was a key part of the 2011-12 Vees team that won a CJHL-record 42 straight games and won a league title as well as a National Championship.
Fabbro will also be making his World Championships debut, but has previously represented Canada in two World Junior tournaments, winning gold in 2018 and silver in 2017. Fabbro also wore the Maple Leaf in the 2016 U18 tournament. Now a teammate of Turris with the Predators, Fabbro played two seasons in Penticton from 2014 to 2016 and put up 100 points (18 goals, 82 assists) in 91 regular-season games. The Coquitlam native won the 2015 Fred Page Cup.
Other notable selections to Team Canada include: Toronto Maple Leafs forward John Tavares, Buffalo Sabres forward and West Vancouver native Sam Reinhart, Vegas Golden Knights forward Mark Stone and Vegas defenceman and Langley native Shea Theodore.
The team will be coached by former Vancouver Canucks head coach and newly-appointed bench boss for the Philadelphia Flyers Alain Vigneault.
Canada is in Group A for the round-robin portion of the tournament along with France, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Slovakia and the USA.
They open the tournament on Friday, May 10 against Finland at 7:15 a.m. PDT in Košice.
All Team Canada games will be broadcast on TSN and streamed live on TSN.ca.
