Dylan Holloway Cracks Canada’s WJC Roster

Team Canada announced their final roster for the 2020 World Junior Championships on Friday morning. Among the list of players includes Edmonton’s Dylan Holloway, who was selected 14th overall at the 2020 NHL Draft.

This comes after a long and tenuous training camp that was shrouded in controversy. The decision to bring Holloway to the camp was heavily criticized by Tony Granato, Holloway’s coach at the University of Wisconsin. Then there was the issue of multiple positive COVID cases reported throughout.

He spent most of the camp separated from the core group of players due to being forced to quarantine with fellow NCAA players after crossing the US/Canadian border. This wouldn’t matter too much, as the main camp was shut down for two weeks due to COVID concerns.

Holloway was able to show his worth when it counted, however, as he produced in his only intra-squad game with one goal en route to a 4-0 win. He played on the team’s fourth line alongside Alex Newhook and Jakob Pelletier.

The development comes with a bit of a redemption arc for Holloway, as he was cut from the 2020 team last December. He joins six other players who were also cut from last year’s camp.

The annual tournament will be done a bit different this year due to the pandemic. The event will start on Christmas day, a change from the usual boxing day opener, and will be held behind closed doors at Rogers Place in Edmonton. Similar to how the 2020 NHL Playoffs were held, teams will be kept in a bubble to ensure that no COVID-19 infections derail the tournament.

Team Canada is set to open up their tourney on December 26th with a match against Germany. Their New Year’s Eve matchup will be with a different opponent than usual as they take on the Finland in their last preliminary games before the medal round.

What do you expect from Holloway during this tournament?