Team Ontario announced recently that Garrett Meurs, a Lakers alumnus, will be part of the 22 man roster competing in the World Under 17 Hockey Challenge being held in Timmins from December 29/09 to January 4/10.
In announcing the roster, Team Ontario Director of Operations Rob Kitamura commented that "After evaluating these high performance athletes during the last 2 months, I am pleased and proud to announce this year’s men’s Under-17 Team that will represent Ontario at the upcoming 2009/2010 World Hockey Challenge being held in Timmins Ontario. Selecting a team from the available talent pool in Ontario is always a difficult task; however, I believe that the coaching staff and I have selected the 22 best players that will represent Ontario with pride and class both on and off the ice at this high performance event. We are confident that this group of athletes are committed and prepared to compete for the Gold medal at the upcoming World Hockey Challenge."
The event includes four other regional teams from across Canada (Pacific, Atlantic, Western, Quebec) and five international teams (Finland, Sweden, Czech Republic, Russia, and USA).
Team Ontario will play in a conference against Team Quebec, Team West, Finland and Sweden.
Team Ontario will begin their quest for Gold on December 28th with an exhibition game against Russia and will play their first game of the round-robin series against Team Finland on December 29th. The bronze and gold medal games will be played on January 4th.
Meurs currently plays for the OHL's Plymouth Whalers and is having an excellent OHL rookie year. Meurs currently sits 3rd overall in points among OHL rookies and 4th on his team. He has amassed 16 points to date (6G, 10A) including at least a point in four of his last five games.
Congratulations to Garrett on his success and the Lakers wish him even greater success at the Under 17 event next month.