Photo credit: WHL
A Vancouver Canucks prospect has earned a major opportunity this summer on the international stage and will look to parlay that into an official roster spot at the tournament in December.
It might be the middle of summer, but hockey has returned – sort of – as the 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase is underway in Minnesota with a number of the game’s top prospects on the ice as they look to make their case for a spot on their nation’s final roster for in less than five months from now.
Vancouver Canucks prospect earns big international opportunity
After a back-to-back quarterfinal exits at the World Juniors at the hands of Czechia, Hockey Canada has made some big decisions when it comes to how they’ll be selecting their U20 team going forward and have appointed a full-time General Manager, with the organization hoping it’ll translate to success on the ice.
Their first step in returning to glory is the 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase, as it gives the team’s management group an opportunity to evaluate players they believe could help them win gold in early January.
Earlier this week, Hockey Canada officially announced their 44-man roster for the World Junior Summer Showcase and among those invited was Vancouver Canucks 2025 first round pick Braeden Cootes, who is just three months removed from captaining the nation to gold at the 2025 IIHF U18 World Championship.Cootes was on the ice for Canada’s intrasquad scrimmage on Tuesday afternoon and was listed as the extra forward on Team Red, who had a stacked center group featuring a trio of fellow first rounders – Berkley Catton (Seattle Kraken), Michael Hage (Montreal Canadiens) and Cole Beaudoin (Utah Mammoth).
While Cootes didn’t get on the scoresheet, the Sherwood Park, Alberta native still looked pretty good out there on Tuesday, as he hopes to impress Hockey Canada’s staff in order to land an invite to their main World Junior camp, which takes place in mid-December.
Cootes and Team Red went on to lose the game in a shootout 4-3, with Carson Wetsch, a third round pick of the San Jose Sharks in 2024, scoring the winner for Team White.
The Vancouver Canucks first rounder and Team Canada will be back in action on Wednesday as they take on Finland at 2:30 pm PT, with games being streamed on USA Hockey’s website, for a fee.
Canada will also face Sweden tomorrow at 11 am PT before wrapping up the showcase on Saturday afternoon against the United States in what could be a very, very early Gold Medal Game preview for the 2026 World Juniors.
Previously on CanucksDaily
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Vancouver Canucks Prospect Earns Major Opportunity on International Stage
Do you think Braeden Cootes will be on Canada’s final roster for the World Juniors in December?