OLIVER-DARES NAMED TO TEAM ATLANTIC

Devon Oliver-Dares showed a lot of promise during his time on the Saint John Sea Dogs roster earlier this season. Although the Dogs prospect is no longer with the big club, Oliver-Dares will get a chance to play with and against some of the best under-17 year old players on the planet this winter.

Today, the 16-year old was named to Team Atlantic for the 2011 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge which takes place in Winnipeg/Portage la Prairie, Manitoba from December 29th- January 4th.

With the 54th overall pick of the 2010 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Entry Draft, Saint John selected the Dartmouth native. Oliver-Dares played in 30 regular season games with the Ice Dawgs last year, registering 18 goals and 33 assists. He added five assists in seven playoff games.

He also competed in one Maritime Junior ‘A’ game last season, recording no points with the Bridgewater Lumberjacks.

Oliver-Dares stood out for most of training camp and looked excellent, showing the ability to be a hard working grinder with some skill as well. In five pre-season games with Saint John, he recorded no points and 13 penalty minutes. He was cut from the team just prior to the Sea Dogs’ regular season opener.

But with several forwards away at National Hockey League training camps, Olivier-Dares was recalled just two days later.

In four games with Saint John, the rookie scored no points, recorded a -1 rating, and had 11 penalty minutes. His most memorable moment came when he dropped the gloves at the Charlottetown Civic Centre in a scrap against the PEI Rocket’s Kevin Boyer.




The same fight, this time showing that the Telus webcast feed is a joke.



Since his return to the Ice Dawgs, he has seven goals, five assists, and 46 penalty minutes in 15 games with the Nova Scotia Major Midget Hockey League club.

Over the summer, Oliver-Dares was invited to Hockey Canada's Atlantic Centre of Excellence Summer Evaluation Camp for Team Atlantic U-17.

The Sea Dogs have always been well represented on Team Atlantic. The Sea Dogs website has more info:

Current members of the Sea Dogs who have previously skated with Team Atlantic at this tournament include Steven Anthony (2008), Stephen MacAulay (2009), Nathan Beaulieu (2009), Kevin Gagné (2009), Aidan Kelly (2010), Ryan Tesink (2010), Jason Cameron (2010), and Tyrone Sock (2010).

Sea Dogs Hockey Operations Coordinator Greg Leland is the team’s Head Coach for the event.

"Our group that will represent our region of the country will have their first opportunity to put on the sweater bearing the Maple Leaf crest, a dream of most young Canadians,” Leland said in a release.

Here is the full Team Atlantic roster:

GOALIES
Jacob Brennan – Hammonds Plains, NS
Brandon Whitney – Centreville, NS

DEFENCE
Michael Abbott – St. John’s, NL
Brett Beauvais – Summerside, PEI
Justin Hachè – Petit-Rocher, NB
Aaron Hoyles – Halifax, NS
Matt Murphy – Fredericton, NB
Mitchell Shewfelt – Dartmouth, NS
Brayden Wood - Oromocto, NB

FORWARDS
Stephen Anderson – Morell, PEI
Taylor Burke - Halifax, NS
Matt Bursey – Saint John, NB
Kyle Farrell – Howie Center, NS
Nathan MacKinnon – Cole Harbour, NS
Craig MacLauchlan – Charlottetown, PEI
Brett Malone – Miramichi, NB
Liam O’Brien – Halifax, NS
Devon Oliver-Dares – Cole Harbour, NS
Ryan Penny – Fall River, NS
Brandon Pye – St. John’s, NL
Andrew Ryan - Paradise, NL
Brent Turnbull – Stellarton, NS

Team Atlantic will depart for Winnipeg on December 26th. They will play an exhibition game on December 28th against Czech Republic prior to playing their first tournament game against Quebec on December 29th. Team Atlantic will also face off against Finland, the United States and Germany in the round robin portion of the event.

For the event, Canada is split into five teams – Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, West, and Pacific. The full schedule and divisional format can be found here.


- With files from SaintJohnSeaDogs.com

Photo Credit: David Connell Web Album