Silvertips notebook: Two summoned by Hockey Canada
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, December 1, 2021
EVERETT — A pair of Everett Silvertips defensemen have been summoned by Hockey Canada.
Both 19-year-old Ronan Seeley and 18-year-old Olen Zellweger were among the 35 players invited Wednesday to attend Canada’s selection camp for the 2022 World Junior Hockey Championships.
The camp takes place Dec. 9-12 in Calgary, Alberta. It will determine the team Canada takes to World Juniors, which take place Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta. Seeley and Zellweger were two of the 11 defensemen Canada invited. Canada is expected to roster eight D-men at World Juniors.
By being invited to the camp, Seeley (21 points in 19 games) and Zellweger (18 points in 17 games) will miss at least three Silvertips games, and should they make the team they could miss as many as 13, meaning Everett could be without its two best defensemen for a significant chunk of the season.
Everett coach Dennis Williams is an assistant coach for Canada’s team, meaning he will also be away from the Tips during that period. Assistant coach Louis Mass is expected to take the reins behind the bench while Williams is away.
Tips sign Zaplitny
Everett has signed 17-year-old forward Caden Zaplitny to a WHL standard player agreement. Zaplitny, a 6-foot, 180-pound native of East St. Paul, Manitoba, who was added to Everett’s 50-player protected list following training camp in 2019, has six goals and eight assists in 24 games with the Winnipeg Blues of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. Zaplitny is expected to spend time with the Tips during the holiday season.
