An Oilers trio is headed to Truro this month for an international hockey showcase.
Okotoks Oilers forwards Sam Huck, Jack Silverberg and blueliner Rylan Brown will compete at the World Junior A Challenge later this month in Truro, N.S. after being named to the Team Canada West roster for the annual competition.
For Huck, Okotoks’ leading scorer with 38 points, it will be the second opportunity in as many years to wear the maple leaf at the annual competition.
“It makes me feel better about my game and thinking that I can still play at that level and they still want me,” he said. “It’s a big honour to go back and compete again for Canada.”
The Western Michigan commit, along with former Oilers Conyr Hellyer and Nick Wolfenberg, suited up for Canada West at the 2022 WJAC and helped the team finish fourth in Cornwall, Ont. last December.
“Everything is faster, everyone is more skillful, everyone plays harder, bigger hits,” Huck added. “So I’ve just got to keep my speed up and try to keep up with it again.”
Silverberg, whose posted 28 points in 27 game since joining the Oilers via trade earlier this season, will be making his debut at the event. The 2004-born forward is a Dartmouth commit.
“I think it will be fun to meet some guys and short-term competition is always fun,” Silverberg said. “And if we can just gel quickly, I think we’ll have some success.”
Brown, a second-year defenceman with Okotoks scoring at nearly a point-per-game clip from the blueline, will also be wearing Team Canada colours for the first time in Nova Scotia.
Silverberg and Brown, both from Sherwood Park, have a long track record together.
“I’m super excited that I’ve made the team, and it makes it better that I get to go with a couple of buddies in Huck and Brown,” Silverberg said. “I’ve known Browny pretty much my whole life, we played in Peewee together and he was actually a forward back then and we were on the same line. I played with him in Drayton Valley and then we both got traded here.
“We’ve stuck together for a long time and now we get to go and play for Canada as well.”
Of the 22 players on Canada West, 19 are from the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
The five-team tournament also features Team Canada East, the United States, Sweden and Slovakia.
The competition runs Dec. 10-17 in the Maritimes.
“Our staff has done a great job of identifying the top players in Western Canada,” said Canada West head coach Scott Barney, in a Hockey Canada release. “We are excited to get to Nova Scotia and compete against the world. This is an amazing opportunity for these young men and something we as a staff want to reiterate every day.
“It is not every day you get to wear the maple leaf so take advantage of it, enjoy it, and play the game that got you here.”
For more information, go to hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/national-championships/men/world-junior-a/2023.
