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Hlinka Gretzky Cup Preview: Canada vs. Sweden

Hlinka Gretzky Cup Preview: Canada vs.  Sweden

 


No team has placed more players in the Canadian National Mens Summer Under-18 Team than the Red Deer Rebels, and the legendary WHL franchise is back in the spotlight as Red Deer hosts the Hlinka Gretzky Cup

With a history spanning more than three decades, Clay Gretzky Cup is an annual summer hockey tradition, played in five countries since Yokohama and Sapporo, Japan hosted the 1991 Phoenix Cup.

So it’s fitting, as the tournament returns for the third time to the Canadian ice, which hosts Red Deer.

The city’s ties to the tournament run deep Red Deer Rebels the Western Hockey League (WHL) has sent more players to Canada’s National Mens Summer Under-18 Team than any other Canadian junior club; Team Canada forward Kalan Lind is the 18th Rebel to wear the Maple Leaf.

There is a pride that comes with representing the team and the city.

I was drafted by Red Deer when I was 14, and being from BC I wasn’t quite sure where it was; now, 23 years later, I still live here, says former rebel captain Colin Fraser. Red Deer is a smaller town that loves hockey and always has.

Fraser was part of Team Canada at the 2002 Eight Nations Cup in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, scoring twice and providing an assist in five games to help Canada win gold. That year’s roster included names such as Phaneuf, Seabrook, Richards and Perry.

He led the Rebels in the last of his four seasons in Central Alberta in 2004-05, the same year he won gold with Canada at the 2005 IIHF World Junior Championship, arguably the best Canadian team ever in the World Juniors.

At the moment you almost take it for granted; you look back now and you realize like an old man how lucky you were to get the chance to play with and against all these superstars, all-stars, Stanley Cup champions and Olympic gold medalists, says Fraser, who himself is Stanley Cups won with Chicago (2010) and Los Angeles (2012).

Fraser is currently scouting in Western Canada for the Red Deer Blackhawks and sees the tournament as the official start of the Scouting season and the lead-up to the 2023 NHL Draft.

On that side of things, the importance of seeing the best draft picks for next season here, all under one roof and playing against each other really makes it okay, he says. This way you can see where they are at the beginning of the season.

Another former Rebels captain has a unique take on the connection between hockey, Red Deer and Team Canada.

Brandon Sutter is a Red Deer native who played 205 games in parts of four seasons with the Rebels, a team owned by his father, Brent (who also serves as President and General Manager of the Rebels). Sutter was part of Team Canada on the

2006 U18 Junior World Cup
posting two assists in four games as Canada won gold.

It’s a community that just loves hockey, says the Vancouver Canucks forward, who has also played in a pair of IIHF U18 World Championships and the 2008 IIHF World Junior Championship. On weekends, people like to spend time at the Centrium, it’s just what you is doing. You grow up here with minor hockey and as you get older you realize what a tie junior hockey is, it really brings a lot of people together.

Sutter remembers the 2006 U18 summer tournament as one of his first major international experiences. He points to the new experiences and the timing of the event in late summer which made it a truly unique event.

When I played it was in Piestany, and that was like another world, it was a really cool experience, he says. I remember going to the
[selection] camping in the summer; it was kind of the first time I went to camp with all these guys from all over Canada, a lot of the guys from the east that you might only know by name.

All these [U18 world championship] experiences were great, but that?
[summer U18] tournament was the one where every kid was available. It was always the cream of the crop of your age across Canada, so it was pretty cool to be on that team where you really deserve your spot.

Sutter is proud of the work his father and brother (Merrick, the senior vice president of the Rebels) have done. They are an integral part of the city and the franchise that hosts some of the biggest events in Canadian junior hockey.

The way Dad and Merrick have really looked after the organization and promoted several Hockey Canada and CHL events is pretty unique, says Sutter. Not many communities of 100,000 people get that kind of experience.

Brent and Merrick do such a professional job bringing in events like the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, the World Juniors [and] the Memorial Cup to this area; they really put Red Deer on the map for hockey, Fraser adds. I consider myself really lucky to have played for Brent. I learned a lot of the values, work ethic and just the intangibles of how to be a professional. He does that as a coach and the organization does all these things to try to make you a better pro.

When the rebels do something, it’s always top notch, no shortcuts.

REBELS TO PLAY WITH CANADAS NATIONAL MEN SUMMER UNDER-18 TEAM

2022 Kalan Lind 2015 Josh Mahura 2014 Adam Musil 2013 Haydn Fleury 2012 Kayle Doetzel 2011 Matt Dumba 2010 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 2009 Alex Petrovic 2006 Brandon Sutter 2002 Colin Fraser, Dion Phaneuf 2001 Derek Meech 2000 Jeff Woywitka 1998 Ross Lupaschuk, Kyle Wanvig 1997 Stephen Peat 1995 Arron Asham 1994 Mike McBain

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