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Cougars' Gauthier invited to world junior tryout camp

It’s now official, Taylor Gauthier has been invited to try out for Canada’s world junior hockey team. Hockey Canada confirmed on Thursday what fans of the Prince George Cougars have known for years – Gauthier is one of the best in the business.
Ted Clarke
Ted Clarke
Gauthier and Cougars shut-out Hurricanes - IN PHOTOS_10
Prince George Cougars goaltender Taylor Gauthier raises his arms in celebration at CN Centre after he made 37 saves to shut out the Lethbridge Hurricanes in March.Citizen photo by James Doyle

It’s now official, Taylor Gauthier has been invited to try out for Canada’s world junior hockey team.

Hockey Canada confirmed on Thursday what fans of the Prince George Cougars have known for years – Gauthier is one of the best in the business.

The 19-year-old Calgary native is one of five goalies on the list of 46 invited players (26 forwards, 15 defencemen) to the Sport Chek selection camp in Red Deer, Alta., Nov. 16-Dec. 13.

The team will represent Canada at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship, December 25th- January 5th in Edmonton.

“The plan is to have that bubble they had for the NHL playoffs and if all goes according to plan I’ll be Edmonton over the Christmas break, hopefully winning a medal for Canada,” said Gauthier, in a Citizen story last week. “It’s going to be tough to get that intensity level ramped up but it’s a tournament that all of us have grown up dreaming to play in, so there won’t be any issue getting up for those games.”

Dylan Garand (Kamloops Blazers), Sebastian Cossa (Edmonton Oil Kings), Tristan Lennox (Saginaw Spirit, OHL) and Brett Brochu (London Knights, OHL) are the other invited Team Canada goalies.

“Taylor is a premier goaltender in our league and has a proven track record with Hockey Canada,” said Cougars general manager and head coach Mark Lamb. “This is a tremendous opportunity for him and we’re thrilled to see him get the recognition he deserves.”

The six-foot-three, 200-pound Gauthier is coming off a stellar WHL season, his third with the Cougars. He posted 16 wins, a 2.93 goals-against average and .917 save percentage – all career bests. In 2019-20 he played 2,870 minutes and 50 games (both league highs) and faced 1,677 shots and made 1,537 saves (ranked second in both categories). He also recorded two shutouts.). In his WHL career Gauthier has played in 137 regular season games, has 39 wins and a .903 save percentage.

Gauthier has already played on three different national teams, including the 2019 IIHF World Under-18 Championship, the 2018 Hlinka Gretzky Cup (in which Canada won gold) and the 2017 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

“We know our athletes are excited for the opportunity to defend gold on home ice this year, and we expect a highly competitive selection camp with a number of difficult decisions to be made when it comes to selecting the players who will wear the maple leaf in Edmonton in December,” said Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada’s senior vice-president of national teams.

During the month-long camp, the country’s junior selects will play three intrasquad games and six games against a team of U Sports all-stars from Nov. 28-Dec. 13.

The world junior tournament starts Christmas Day with three games. Canada plays its opener on Dec. 26th at noon (PT) against Germany. TSN will televise all 28 tournament games and the 10 pre-tournament games, starting December 20th.