MJHL players earn world junior A camp invites

Editor’s Note: This story was written for the Dec. 5th edition of The Carillon

Three players who play in the MJHL for Niverville/Steinbach could soon be wearing a Team Canada jersey.

Reece Gault and Jackson Kostiuk from Steinbach and Avery Laliberte from Niverville earned invites to the Team Canada West selection camp for the upcoming World Junior A championship.

“This is the first time since 2022 we are taking the opportunity to hold a camp before naming our teams for the Junior A World Challenge,” Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada’s senior vice-president of high performance and hockey operations said in a news release.

“In partnership with the CJHL, we have identified the top 60 Junior A players in the country. We expect a competitive three days before we narrow our rosters down to the two teams that will proudly represent Canada in Camrose.”

Steinbach’s Ty Paisley made the Team Canada West roster after the 2022 training camp.

Team Canada West will be made up of players from Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL), Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL), Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) and Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL). The World Junior A Challenge is hosted in Camrose this year and will run from Dec. 9-15.

Players from the B.C. Hockey League are not eligible to be selected, as they do not play in a Hockey Canada affiliated league.

Team Canada West’s final roster will be named Dec. 5 after a pair of inter-squad games.

Oakbank’s Gault and Lorette’s Laliberte have had similar starts to their season. The pair of Eastman 2007-born defenseman have earned major ice-time for their respective teams despite their ages. They also committed to the same NCAA program in Northern Michigan University.

Gault has 19 points in 24 games for Steinbach, while Laliberte has 21 points in 26 games.

Kostiuk, a 2006-born forward from East St Paul is enjoying a breakout season with Steinbach. He has 27 points in 23 games this season to lead the Pistons.

Niverville Nighthawks trainer Justin Giesbrecht will also be at the tournament as the Team Canada West physiotherapist. Northern Manitoba’s Eric Labrosse will standing behind the bench as an assistant coach.

For more MJHL coverage including game recaps, standings and statistics, be sure to pick up a print edition of The Carillon weekly.