Chase Harrington and Cameron Schmidt are about to get their first taste of playing for their country in an international hockey tournament.
The two 16-year-old Prince George minor hockey products are among 44 Canadians selected for the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, Nov. 2-11 in Prince Edward Island.
But they won’t be playing for the same team.
Harrington, who now skates for the Spokane Chiefs, was picked for Canada Red, while Schmidt, a Vancouver Giant, is part of Canada White.
Harrington, who turns 16 next Monday, has three assists in eight games playing as a forward with the Chiefs. Spokane selected him eighth overall in the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft.
Schmidt, 16, the seventh-overall WHL draft pick in 2022, scored a power-play goal in the second period Sunday to help the Giants to a 5-3 win over Harrington and the Chiefs.
Schmidt, also a forward, now has three goals and three assists in his rookie WHL season.
Canada White opens the exhibition schedule on Thursday, Nov. 2 (8 a.m. PT) against Czechia, followed later that day by Canada Red playing Finland (3 p.m. PT). The two Canadian teams play each other in the final pre-tournament tuneup Nov. 3 (3 p.m.).
Canada Red opens the six-team tournament Nov. 4 against Czechia (11 a.m. PT), while Canada White takes on Sweden (3 p.m. PT).
All games will be webcast on HockeyCanada.ca.
TSN will televise the playoff rounds, Nov. 9 and 10, and the medal-round games Nov. 11.
