Please see the attached preliminary roster for Team Canada’s 2026 World Junior National Team. The final roster will be trimmed from 27 to 25 players prior to the tournament’s commencement in St. Paul, Minnesota. Team Canada opens its training camp to make these final preparations on December 12 in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
What jumps out immediately is Team Canada’s overwhelming strength between the pipes. The fact that 2025 first-round pick Joshua Ravensbergen (SJS) is the probable 3rd-string netminder is the best evidence for this. He is preceded by a pair of second-round choices: Carter George (LAK 2024) of Owen Sound in the OHL and Jack Ivankovic (NSH 2025) of the University of Michigan.
The other noteworthy topic on this roster is the amount of under-aged players represented here. Unlike the recent past, talent took precedence over experience on the Team Canada roster, as shown by the fact that 12 of the 27 players were born in 2007 or later. This includes four 2026 draft-eligible players, being three d-men (the WHL’s Carson Carels & Ethan Mackenzie, and North Dakota University’s Keaton Verhoeff) and one forward (Penn State University’s Gavin McKenna).