Prince George Cougars goaltender Tyler Brennan is heading to Texas later this month.
The 17-year-old has been picked to play for Canada in the IIHF world under-18 hockey championship, April 26-May 6.
Canada will open April 27 against Sweden.
Brennan joined the Cougars last season as a rookie, after being selected 21st overall in the 2018 WHL bantam draft. He played in 15 games in 2019-20 and posted a 3.34 goals-against average and .887 save percentage.
In his 17th career WHL game Monday in Kelowna, the six-foot-three, 195-pound native of Winnipeg made 29 saves to back the Cougars to a 5-3 win over the Victoria Royals.
During Brennan’s absence, 16-year-old Ty Young will replace Brennan as the Cougars’ backup goalie, with Taylor Gauthier as the starter.
Brennan is among 10 WHL players picked to play for Canada at the 10-team tournament. The others, with their hometowns and WHL teams listed are: G Thomas Milac (Coquitlam, Seattle Thunderbirds), D Olen Zellweger (Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., Everett Silvertips), Nolan Allen (Davidson, Sask., Prince Albert Raiders), F Logan Stankoven, Kamloops, Kamloops Blazers), F Connor Roulette (Winnipeg, Seattle Thunderbirds), F Connor Bedard (North Vancouver, Regina Pats), F Dylan Guenther(Edmonton, Edmonton Oil Kings), and F Carson Lambos (Winnipeg, Winnipeg Ice).
F Cole Sillinger of Regina, who plays in the USHL for Sioux Falls Stampede, and D Corson Ceulemans of Beaumont, Alta., a member of the AJHL’s Brooks Bandits, also made the Canada roster.
Canada will be based in Plano, Texas as part of Group B with Sweden, Belarus, Latvia and Switzerland. Group A, based in Frisco, includes the host United States, Russia, Czech Republic, Finland and Germany.
The Cougars, who lost 6-1 Thursday to the Kamloops Blazers, are scheduled to play their next game Tuesday, when they host Victoria at Sandman Centre in Kamloops.
The Cougars had two of their games postponed this week due to a COVID-19 outbreak which affected six players and two staff members on the Kelowna Rockets. The league postponed the Cougars-Vancouver Giants game on Wednesday and the Cougars-Rockets game originally scheduled for tonight in Kamloops.
The Rockets are now in isolation, serving a 14-day quarantine. That has forced postponement of the April 10 meeting between the Cougars and Rockets in Kelowna.
