Follow me on Twitter: @BenShelley_20 Follow HockeyBuzz Hurricanes on Twitter: @HB_Canes The World Junior Hockey Championship started today and the Carolina Hurricanes have more prospects participating in the tournament than any other organization, with 10 players representing their respective countries. Team Canada features defenseman Ronan Seeley, who was selected by the Hurricanes in the seventh round of the 2020 NHL Draft. Seeley has 22 points in 24 games with the WHL’s Everett Silvertips this season and this is the first time he’s participating in the tournament. Defenseman Aleksi Heimosalmi and forward Ville Koivunen and are both representing Finland at the tournament. Heimosalmi was selected 44th overall in this year’s draft, while Koivunen was taken 51st overall. Both players have spent the season in Finland’s top professional league and neither has participated in the tournament before. Goaltender Nikita Quapp was selected by Carolina in the sixth round of this year’s draft and is playing for Germany. This is Quapp’s first appearance at the tournament as well and the netminder has been spending the year in Germany’s top league. Three forwards will be representing Russia, in Nikita Guslistov, Alexander Pashin and Vasily Ponomarev. Guslistov and Pashin were both seventh-round picks, while Ponomarev was a second-round pick and is the only returning player of the three, having scored three goals in seven games during last year’s event. Forward Zion Nybeck and defenseman Joel Nystrom are both suiting up for Sweden. Nybeck was selected by Carolina in the fourth round of the 2020 Draft and had one assist in five games during last year’s tournament, while Nystrom was a 2021 seventh-round pick and has not participated in the tournament before. Defenseman Scott Morrow is the only Hurricanes prospect representing the United States. Morrow was selected 40th overall this year and has 15 points in 15 games with UMass Amherst. This will be Morrow’s first time participating in the event. In other news, the NHL postponed all games before December 28 and as a result, the Hurricanes’ game originally scheduled for tomorrow against the Florida Panthers has been pushed back.
SCHEDULE UPDATE: @NHL delays return to game play by a day; games on Dec. 27 postponed.https://t.co/UX99dQ0tp1 pic.twitter.com/zZRrGjpt7L
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 24, 2021