The Prince George Cougars season is over but Cats defenceman Carson Carels has no intention of packing away his hockey equipment just yet.
He’s been invited to play for Canada in the 2025 IIHF U18 World Championship, April 23-May 3 in Frisco and Allen, Texas.
The 16-year-old native of Cypress, River, Man., is coming off an outstanding rookie season in the WHL with the Cougars in which he scored six goals and had 29 assists for 35 points (sixth among rookie defencemen) in 60 games. He also contributed offensively in the playoffs with a goal and three assists in the Cougars’ seven-game series loss to the Portland Winterhawks.
Carels was a first-round pick of the Cougars, 16th overall, in the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft.
This will be the second tournament in which Carels has represented Canada, having played for Canada Red in the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in November 2022.
The players picked for the U18 team are in Oakville, Ont., today for the start of a four-day training camp.
Prince George native Dan De Palma was selected as the team’s goaltending consultant, a job he currently holds with the Kamloops Blazers.
Canada will play Slovakia (April 24), Latvia (April 25), Finland (April 27) and Norway (April 28) in the preliminary round. The 10-team tournament also features Slovakia, Czechia, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.
Quarterfinals are set for April 30, followed by semifinals on May 2 and the medal games on May 3.
The games will be broadcast on TSN and RDS.
