Romani, Carey get camp calls
Anthony Romani and Ryder Carey of the Ontario Hockey League’s North Bay Battalion have been invited to Program of Excellence summer camps, Hockey Canada announced Tuesday.
Right winger Romani is one of 18 OHL performers, including 12 forwards, named to the roster for the national junior team’s Summer Showcase to be held July 28-Aug. 3 at Windsor and Plymouth, Mich. The event is part of the selection process for the Canadian team to take part in the 2025 World Junior Championship at Ottawa.
Centre Carey is among 39 OHL prospects, including 22 forwards, who are to participate in the week-long national under-17 development camp starting Thursday at Oakville, Ont. The camp is to help identify Canadian team members for the U17 World Challenge scheduled Nov. 1-9 at Sarnia.
Romani, who turned 19 last Friday, was chosen by the Vancouver Canucks in the sixth round of the National Hockey League Draft on June 29. In 68 games last season, he led the OHL with 58 goals and earned 53 assists for 111 points, second in the league scoring race. He has 89 goals and 79 assists for 168 points in 188 games over three seasons.
A six-foot-one, 184-pound resident of Pickering, Ont., Romani was a third-round choice in the 2021 OHL Priority Selection from the Toronto Jr. Canadiens minor midgets.
The Battalion chose Carey in the first round, 16th overall, of the 2024 Priority Selection from the Oakville Rangers U16s. In 42 regular-season and playoff games last season, Carey, who turns 16 on Aug. 2, scored 30 goals and added 36 assists for 66 points. The Oakville resident measures six feet and 174 pounds.
Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen was named Monday as an assistant coach with Canada’s national summer under-18 team, which will play in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup tournament Aug. 5-10 at Edmonton. Canada, which has won the title in each of the last two years, is to hold its selection camp July 27-30 at Calgary.
The OHLers are among a total of 160 Canadian Hockey League players invited to the three camps.
