Dillon Dube named to Team Canada’s WJC selection roster

This morning, Team Canada officially announced their selection roster for the 2017 World Junior Championship, including Kelowna Rocket and Flames prospect Dillon Dube. The 32 man roster currently contains 19 forwards including Dube, and will be cut to 22 players after selection camp, held from Dec. 11-14 in Broisband, Quebec.

This should not have come as a surprise to Flames fans. Dube had been on the WJC evaluation camp roster in the summer and, as we said last week, has a very good chance of actually making the roster. The 5’11” centreman missed the first month of the season with a lower body injury (undisclosed by the team, but believed to be a knee) but has come back strong, scoring seven points in six games.

Dube is a strong contender for a roster spot in the WJC. He’s one of the youngest on the team, has been consistently good in the WHL, and has previously seen success at the international stage at last year’s Ivan Hlinka tournament, scoring three points in four games. The only thing holding him back, as some have correctly speculated, is his aforementioned injury. He’s only played six games this season while most others have played around 20. He’s been making the best out of his short season, but he’s probably going to have to bring a little extra to the table two weeks from now.

There’s no other timetable for when other nations are releasing their selection camp rosters, but be on the lookout for Team USA (Adam Fox, Tyler Parsons), Russia (Pavel Karnaukhov), Finland (Eetu Tuulola), and Sweden (Linus Lindstrom). More as it comes. The Hockey Canada press release is here.