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Colorado Avalanche prospects Bowen Byram, Alex Newhook, and Justin Barron are in quarantine with the Canadian World Juniors national team, cutting their preparation for the 2021 World Junior Championships short just over a week into their selection camp. The team is in Red Deer, Alberta, about two hours south of Edmonton, the location for the tournament.
The team has had to quarantine for 14 days after both players and staff tested positive for COVID-19. We don’t know who or how many are currently infected, but it has been reported that two players tested positive on Tuesday after a “non-core member” of the staff tested positive over the weekend.
The team began their quarantine on November 25th and will last until December 6th, five days before the final roster is expected to be in the Edmonton bubble on December 11th. There will be pre-tournament exhibition games between the WJC teams from December 20th to 23rd, with the 10 teams playing two games each.
“The original announcement of the positive player tests came on Tuesday — three days after Hockey Canada said a “non-core member” of the team’s staff also tested positive. Hockey Canada said it was suspending all camp activities for the day, including a scheduled intrasquad game, at the time.” [TSN]
The Canadians are doing a full quarantine in order to keep all their players healthy and available for the tournament because once the team arrives in Edmonton, anyone who tests positive there will be forced to leave the bubble and are unable to return for the rest of the tournament. The IIHF will be using the same facilities as the NHL did in the Western playoff bubble.
You can find the selection camp roster here.
Drew Helleson is in contention to make Team USA, but his spot isn’t guaranteed at the moment. I spent some time trying to find the USA selection camp roster but unless I’m missing something, I can’t find it. There aren’t any Avs prospects on the radar for the rest of the teams in the tournament. All eyes should be on Canada.
Team Canada Games Schedule (so far)
- Mon, Dec 21st, 4pm MT — Sweden @ Canada
- Wed, Dec 23rd, 4pm MT — Canada @ Russia
- Sat, Dec 26th, 4pm MT — Germany @ Canada
- Sun, Dec 27th, 4pm MT — Slovakia @ Canada
- Tues, Dec 29th, 4pm MT — Canada @ Switzerland
- Thurs, Dec 31st, 4pm MT — Canada @ Finland
You can watch the two camp games the team played over the weekend before the shutdown.
Team Red not giving up! Bowen Byram (#Avs) with a ridiculous display of skating and mobility, just an outstanding read of the defense here to set up Rees (#Canes) as he fades to the backside! #WJC #TeamCanada pic.twitter.com/7ordVnZMOv
— Tony Ferrari (@theTonyFerrari) November 23, 2020
Bowen Byram (#Avs) looking to get Team Red back into things with back to back great plays from the blueline.
— Tony Ferrari (@theTonyFerrari) November 23, 2020
This time he gets the puck to Suzuki (#Canes) who finds Jack Quinn (#Sabres) who does what he does and finds the back of the net! #WJC #TeamCanada pic.twitter.com/FFPUKVTCCw