On Monday, December 1, Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) announced the 22 Canada West student-athletes that will represent Canada in men’s hockey team at the 2009 Winter Universiade in Harbin, China from February 18-28. Manitoba Bisons Mike Hellyer and Rick Wood were selected to the Team Canada squad.

For the first time since 1993, Team Canada will enter the Universiade tournament as defending champion after a team from the Atlantic University Sport conference captured gold with a 3-1 win over Russia at the 2007 Games in Torino, Italy. The triumph marked the third Universiade men’s hockey title in history for Canada, which had previously been crowned in 1991 in Sapporo, Japan, while represented by the senior national team, and in 1981 in Jaca, Spain, when the University of Alberta Golden Bears wore the Maple Leaf.

Hellyer, 22, is having a great sophomore season with the Bisons. In the 2008-09 season, the Brandon, MB native is tied for second on the team and tied for 14th in Canada West scoring with 13 points (four goals and nine assists). The 5’8” forward is tied for ninth with nine conference assists after 18 regular season games. Wood, 24, is in his fourth season with Manitoba and leads the team and tied for 11th in Canada West scoring with 14 points (8g, 6a) this season. The Rivers, MB native is tied for fifth with eight conference goals. The 6’0” forward  has played in all 18 regular season games this season.

Since 1997, Canada has been represented at the University Games in men’s hockey by each of CIS’ three conferences on a rotating basis. Canada West Hockey players claimed bronze medals in 1997 (Chonju, South Korea) and 2003 (Tarvisio, Italy); Ontario University Athletics skaters won bronze in 1999 (Poprad-Tatry, Slovakia) and finished fifth in 2005 (Innsbruck, Austria); AUS all-stars returned home with silver in 2001 (Zakapone, Poland) before going all the way two years ago.

The 10 countries entered in the 2009 Universiade tournament will be split in two pools, with the top two teams in each group at the end of round-robin play advancing to the semi-finals. Canada will be grouped with host China, Great Britain, the Czech Republic and 2007 bronze medalist Kazakhstan, while the other pool will be comprised of Russia, the United States, Slovakia, Japan and Korea.