Freddie Hamilton on team Canada U-18 roster

[IceDogArmy]

http://hockeycanada.com/index.php/ci...30/la_id/1.htm

[BonesBuddy]

Way to go Freddie. Make Canada proud!

[conchar]

Good Luck Canada and Good Luck Freddie...Have a great tournament and enhance your draft potential.

[hockeyplayer115]

Good luck Freddie!! Make us and Canada proud!

[BonesBuddy]

Article in St. Catharines Standard today

Freddie ready for maple leaf



Posted By BERNIE PUCHALSKI , STANDARD STAFF



The Niagara IceDogs' first-round playoff loss to the Ottawa 67's has come with a silver lining for Freddie Hamilton.
The 18-year-old Niagara IceDogs forward is one of 22 players from Canadian Hockey League teams eliminated from the playoffs who were named to Canada's under-18 team for the 2009 IIHF World Under-18 Championships in Minsk and Bobruisk, Belarus. The tournament will run April 13-23

The St. Catharines resident was contacted by Hockey Canada the day after Ottawa eliminated the IceDogs from the playoffs.

"They let me know I was going to be on the team, so I just started getting focused for the tournament," he said.
He was thrilled to get the call.
"It's really exciting. It's one of my ultimate goals to be on Team Canada and to wear the Canada jersey is a thrill. It's getting a chance to represent your country again against the best players in the world."
Of course, Hamilton would trade in his Team Canada jersey in an instant for a chance to still be battling in the second round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs.

"It was definitely disappointing to lose in the first round to Ottawa. That was a negative, but to come back the next day and get a call like that is really thrilling."
This past season, the 6-foot-1, 187-pounder had 25 goals and 30 assists in 64 regular-season games for Niagara. He had a goal and an assist in the playoffs against Ottawa. Hamilton was rated the 26th-ranked OHL skater and 102nd-ranked North American skater in NHL Central Scouting's mid-term rankings.
Hamilton's last international experience was in 2008 as a member of Team Ontario at the World Under-17 Challenge and he will use that experience to help him this time around.
"Maybe just the tournament style and being used to a long tournament like that with many games and staying in a hotel. And just gelling with the team. We all have to come together and accept different roles to help the team win."

Hamilton said his health is back to 100% and he's fully recovered from a concussion he suffered near the end of the regular season.
"Everything has cleared up and I was 100% going into the playoff s, too."
The team met up in Toronto Monday and flies to Europe Tuesday. Canada will play an exhibition game Friday against Finland before starting the tournament.
Choosing the squad were head coach Guy Carbonneau; assistant coaches George Burnett and Rob Sumner; Brad Pascall, Hockey Canada's senior director of men's national teams; Shawn Bullock, Hockey Canada's manager of men's national teams, and Al Murray, Hockey Canada's head scout for men's national teams.
Murray travelled across Canada to evaluate and ranking the players.
"As a coaching staff, we are looking forward to getting together with the players we have chosen and working towards our goal of a gold medal for Canada," Carbonneau said. "A number of these players have previous international experience, and that will prove invaluable in Belarus."
Canada's roster includes 13 players from the Ontario Hockey League, seven from the Western Hockey League and two from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Canada is a two-time champion at the IIHF World Under-18 Championship, earning gold in 2003 and 2008. Canada finished fourth in 2009.
The 2010 IIHF World Under-18 Championship opens for Canada April 13 in Bobruisk against Switzerland. The Canadians will also face Belarus, Sweden and the United States in the preliminary round.
TSN will show Canada's final preliminary-round game against Sweden April 18, as well as a quarter-final game April 20, a semifinal April 21 and the gold-medal game April 23.
The bronze-medal game April 23 will also be broadcast if Canada is playing.

[AlphaDog]

TSN will show Canada's final preliminary-round game against Sweden April 18, as well as a quarter-final game April 20, a semifinal April 21 and the gold-medal game April 23.

I really need to remember this.

[B-Rad]

Very impressive!

[BonesBuddy]

Looks like they lost their exhibition game to the Fins today. But Freddie did get an assist in the 3rd Here's the write up game summary

http://hockeycanada.com/index.php/ci...77/la_id/1.htm

Canada 4 - Finland 5

COMEBACK FALLS SHORT AS CANADA DROPS EXHIBITION DECISION TO FINNS MINSK, Belarus – John McFarland (Richmond Hill, Ont./Sudbury, OHL) scored a hat trick to pace the Canadian offence, but it wasn’t enough as Canada’s National Men’s Under-18 Team fell 5-4 to Finland in exhibition action on Friday night at the Minsk Ice Palace. The game was Canada’s lone pre-tournament contest before opening the 2010 IIHF World Under-18 Championship next Tuesday (8 a.m. ET/5 a.m. PT) against Switzerland in Bobruisk, located 138 km from Minsk. Canada is looking to improve on its fourth-place finish from the 2009 U18 Worlds in the U.S. The Finns jumped out to a quick start, striking just 46 seconds after the opening face-off for an early 1-0 lead. But McFarland, one of three returning Canadians from the 2008 world championship, got Canada back on even terms less than five minutes later, scoring shorthanded. The second period was a parade to the penalty box, as the two teams combined for 24 minutes in penalties in the middle frame. The Finns used an early power play to regain a one-goal lead thanks to Petteri Halinen, and pushed it to 3-1 when Teemu Pulkkinen beat Calvin Pickard (Winnipeg, Man./Seattle, WHL) at the five-minute mark. McFarland notched his second of the game with two minutes left in the second period, but the Finns restored their two-goal lead before the buzzer sounded on Halinen’s second goal of the period. Outshot 24-22 through two periods, the Canadians fell into a three-goal hole early in the third period when Mikael Salmivirta beat Kent Simpson (Edmonton, Alta./Everett, WHL) – who had replaced Pickard midway through the second period – to make it 5-2. But the Canadians fought back, getting goals from Ryan Spooner (Kanata, Ont./Peterborough, OHL), at 10:47, and McFarland, who wrapped up his hat trick at 14:42 to make it a one-goal game at 5-4. Despite outshooting the Finns 15-10 in the final 20 minutes Canada could not get the tying goal past Finnish goaltender Jonathan Iilhati, falling short in its comeback attempt. Ryan Murray (White City, Sask./Everett, WHL) added two assists for Canada, which outshot Finland 37-34 overall

[conchar]

Now that Freddie has broken his duck for the U18 team we can expect bigger and better things from him...Go Freddie Go...Go Canada Go.

[BonesBuddy]

Opening day today. Game started at 8am, Canada Vs Swiss. We are losing 2-1 after 2. Come on Canada!