The Nick Smith Centre in Arnprior will be the host of the 2018 CCHL2 showcase with two games scheduled for Friday night. The Tier 2 Canadians open their season Saturday at 11am against the Winchester Hawks, followed by a meeting with the Casselman Vikings Sunday at 4:30. All 16 teams in the league will play two games over the weekend.
The Tier 2 Canadians are a young team again this year, with just four players born prior to 2000. Returning players include Oliver Carriere, Ethan Wardman, James Lister, Spencer Marshall, Hisham Barayan, Andrew Vanderklei, Josh Mills, and Carter Holmes.
Moving up from the U18 team is William Inoue, Josh Richmond, Adam Desjardins, Connor Nicoll, Brendan Hill, and Mitchell Kealey.
Ryland Mosley, Reece Bolton, Cameron Patton, Martin Templeton, Eastan Eckert and Vincent Bujold-Roux have all progressed to Jr. A.
The roster features three American players in Stef Hawkins (Scottsdale, Arizona), Connor Fields (Raleigh, North Carolina) and Chris Meinenger (Bloomfield, Michigan).
With the addition of Anthony Dozzi the Tier 2 Canadians have six players from Carleton Place. Also new to the team is Jake Code (Elmira), Gavin Browne (Whitby), Shane Sullivan (Stittsville), along with goaltenders Nicholas Redmond (Rawdon, Quebec) and Brody Bernard (Ottawa).
First year Head Coach John Ollson is now with the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. Trevor Peters has been promoted to the roles of Head Coach and General Manager. Ryan Jardine returns as Assistant Coach and new to the staff is Assistant Coach Rob Kennedy.
The Canadians won four of their six preseason games defeating Richmond and Perth twice, while dropping both of their games against Westport.
Kyle Lightfoot (Lasalle, Quebec) led the team in pre-season scoring with 3 goals and 5 assists.
The Canadians finished first in the Richardson Division last year with a 37-13-2 record. They defeated Renfrew and Ottawa in 7 games before falling to Casselman 4-1 in the Barkley Cup Championship series.
The Winchester Hawks were 15-36-1 last season. The Canadians won all 3 meetings with the Hawks in 2017/18.
