Hounds Carter invited to national junior camp

Soo Greyhounds forward Jeff Carter has been given another chance to represent his country, this time at a higher level.

Carter, who played on this year's Team Canada under-18 championship team, was one of 44 players invited on Tuesday to the National Junior Team Development Camp to be held in Calgary Aug. 9-18.

It will be an exciting off-season for Carter, who is also anxiously awaiting the June 21 National Hockey League entry draft where he could be selected in the first round. Carter is rated 27th by NHL Central Scouting while The Hockey News has Carter pegged at 16th overall.

From the summer camp evaluation, team officials will trim the roster to 32 players, which will advance to the team's final selection camp in December. Canada opens the World Junior Hockey Championships Dec. 26 in Finland.

Former Greyhound defenseman Jeremy Swanson was also one of the invites.

Other Ontario Hockey League players to receive invites were Saginaw's Paul Bissonnette, St. Michael's Kevin Klein and Oshawa's Paul Ranger on defense. Invites at forward include St. Michael's Tim Brent, Oshawa's Ben Eager and Nathan Horton, Ottawa's Corey Locke, Guelph's Daniel Paille, Kitchener's Mike Richards, Peterborough's Eric Staal and Kingston's Anthony Stewart.