Ladd Selected For Canada U17 Camp

Kent Bridge’s Grayson Ladd will be among the top hockey players, aged 16-19 competing for a roster spot this summer at the Hockey Canada National Team Summer Showcase.

Hockey Canada invited 197 players, including 111 in Ladd’s U17 category. The camp will begin July 22 in Calgary for the national under-17 development camp.

As the U17 camp winds down, a second group of prospects vying for spots on the U18 and National Junior rosters will arrive, including a second camp in Plymouth, Michigan. The 3 week process aims to begin creating rosters for the 2017 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Dawson Creek and Fort St. John, British Columbia, the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship in Buffalo, New York, and the 2018 IIHF U18 World Championship in Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk, Russia.

“For about three-and-a-half weeks in July and August, we get to see all of the players in our program concentrated in two locations, which gives our management team, coaches, and staff a chance to develop, first and foremost, what we feel is our top talent in Canada, and evaluate those players as we look to put together winning teams throughout the upcoming season,” Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada’s vice-president of hockey operations and national teams said in a Hockey Canada news release.

“It’s a great opportunity for these players who are working towards earning a chance to wear the Team Canada jersey.

Ladd will play this season for the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers. He was a first round pick, 13th overall of the Rangers after captaining the Minor Midget ‘AAA’ Chatham-Kent Cyclones.

The 6’2” defenseman played for Team Alliance recently in the OHL Gold Cup.