We’ve officially entered December, which mean’s it’s World Junior season again. With the tournament only a few weeks away, Hockey Canada announced their invite list to their 2025 World Junior camp. To say there were some surprises is an understatement. Both Zayne Parekh and Etienne Morin, two Calgary Flames defencemen who looked to have a chance of making the team, haven’t even been selected to the camp roster and will not be making the team.
Canada's World Junior camp roster. pic.twitter.com/0iZcq4Rs4Y
— Corey Pronman (@coreypronman) December 2, 2024
A shocking Parekh snub
Parekh in particular is a shocking snub from the camp roster. The ninth overall pick in last year’s draft led all defencemen in scoring last season with a historic 96 points and seemed like a lock to not only get an invite to the camp but to play a prominent role on the roster. He’s currently sitting third in OHL scoring among defenceman this season with 30 points in 22 games, and second for points per game behind only Sam Dickinson. Somehow those numbers weren’t enough to get him an invite.
The decision to not even give Parekh an invite to the camp seems like a massive mistake by Hockey Canada, similar to their exclusion of Brandt Clarke at last year’s tournament. Once again it seems as though the Hockey Canada brass are favouring grit and size over high-end skill. Parekh is arguably the top offensive talent on defence in the entire CHL given his track record, so excluding him from the camp itself is a puzzling decision to say the least and will almost certainly come back to bite Canada in the rear-end once the tournament starts.
Bad luck for Morin
Etienne Morin meanwhile was far from a lock and had much lower chance of cracking the roster compared to Parekh, but it’s still rather surprising to see the 2023 second-rounder not even get an invite to camp. He’s currently having the best season of his QMJHL career and ranks third in the QMJHL for scoring from the blueline with 27 points in 24 games.
He may not be the elite talent Parekh is, but Morin is having a superb season and as a 19-year-old with plenty of experience, it’s a little surprising to see Canada go with much less talented and impactful defencemen on their roster and not even give Morin a look. At the very least he deserved an invite to the camp.
Some questionable calls
The hockey world is ablaze this morning after Canada’s shocking camp roster was announced, and I wouldn’t expect that to stop anytime soon. Flames fans can take solace in the fact it wasn’t just their prospects that got burned. Blue chippers who seemed like locks to get an invite like Carter Yakemchuk, Tij Iginla, Beckett Sennecke, Michael Hage and many more were also left off the roster.
It will be very interesting to follow Canada’s team this year after their puzzling invite decisions, especially if they go crashing out of the tournament early just like they did last year. Given their camp roster, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see it happen once again.
