Carter off to national junior camp

Soo Greyhounds captain Jeff Carter was one of the top 34 junior hockey players in the country picked to attend the National Junior Team Selection Camp.

Carter advances to the main camp after working out with Team Canada during the summer evaluation camp and his stellar performance this season.

The camp will be held in Kitchener from December 11-18. The final roster selections will head to Finland for the World Junior Hockey Championships December 26th to January 5th.

Should the Philadelphia Flyers first round pick make the cut, he would miss a total of eight Ontario Hockey League games with the Greyhounds.

"It's a great honour. Making the National Junior team and representing Canada would be a thrill and this is the first step towards achieving that goal," said Carter, who has 19 goals and 19 assists for 38 points in 28 games this year.

Carter joins nine other OHL players at the camp including defensemen Kevin Klein from Guelph, Andre Benoit from Kitchener and former Soo Greyhound Jeremy Swanson from Barrie.

The forwards include Tim Brent from Toronto, Adam Henrich from Brampton, Daniel Paille from Guelph, Corey Perry from London, Mike Richards from Kitchener and Anthony Stewart from Kingston. No goaltenders were invited.

Thirty-three of the 34 players invited are players within the Canadian Hockey League, whose members include the OHL, Western Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, while defenseman Jeff Tambellini toils with the University of Michigan. The WHL will have 16 players at the camp while the QMJHL has eight.

Invited to the camp is 16 year-old rookie phenom Sidney Crosby, who leads the QMJHL in scoring with the Rimouski Oceanic.

Absent from the list of invites is Ottawa 67's scoring sensation Corey Locke despite his participation in the camp last year and his selection as the CHL's Player of the Year last season.