The World Junior Championship tournament is about to get underway (December 26), and the identities of the players who will be on the Canadian team are starting to emerge.

Of the lot, it’s really cool to note right off the bat that seven players from the QMJHL have managed to secure a place on the squad. Among them are no less than six Quebecers:

• Mathis Rousseau (L)
• Samuel St-Hilaire (L)
• Tristan Luneau (R)
• Maveric Lamoureux (L)
• Noah Warren (R)
• Jordan Dumais (A)

Jake Furlong of the Halifax Mooseheads is the other Q representative:

I love it.

The World Junior Championship is always great fun to watch for fans all over the club, and it’s even more glorious when you see guys from Quebec get a chance to defend the colors of the Maple Leaf.

Jordan Dumais is expected to be the club’s offensive engine.

He finished last season with the highest point total in the CHL, and he’ll be hungry as a lion because last year he was cut from the CJS camp.

Not surprisingly, Owen Beck has also earned his place in the Canadian line-up.

He’s the only veteran on the team, even though he played just 13 minutes in last year’s tournament. Will the coaches reward him with a letter? Could he even get the captain’s role because of his experience? That wouldn’t be crazy.

Here, in closing, is the Canadiens’ complete line-up.

Goaltenders :

• Mathis Rousseau
• Samuel St-Hilaire
• Scott Ratzlaff

Defensemen :

• Noah Warren
• Tanner Molendyk
• Denton Mateychuk
• Maveric Lamoureux
• Jake Furlong
• Oliver Bonk
• Tristan Luneau

And, among the forwards :

• Owen Beck
• Jordan Dumais
• Macklin Celebrini
• Conor Geekie
• Fraser Minten
• Carson Rehkopf
• Matthew Savoie
• Brayden Yager
• Matthew Wood
• Easton Cowan
• Nate Danielson

Sounds promising.

I can’t wait to see how Celebrini performs, as he’s one of the hottest prospects in the upcoming draft and celebrated his 17th birthday this summer.

In a row

– The Habs have lost six games in as many chances when facing a club playing for a second time in as many days. [Journal de Montréal]

– Bob Nardella maintains that he never used homophobic language.

– There’s a nice parity.