Canada Russia Challenge Series - TEAM QMJHL

Longueuil - Gilles Courteau, Commissioner of the QMJHL, announced in a press conference the roster of the CHL RE/MAX Challenge. Gilles Courteau also announced the name of the two honorary captains of the games to be played in Halifax and Rimouski.

The best QMJHL players who will attend the selection training camp for the up-coming World Junior Championship (no 20-year-old players) will play two games against the Russian team during the RE/MAX Canada-Russia Challenge 2003. The first game will be played on Thursday, November 20th at the Halifax Metro Centre and the second one is scheduled for Monday, November 24 at the Rimouski Coliseum. Mr Blair Mackasey, Head-Scout at Hockey Canada, with the assistance of two general managers of the QMJHL, Doris Labonté (Rimouski Oceanic) and Stéphane Pilotte (Val-d’Or, Foreurs) proceeded to the selection of the players.

The roster is as follows:

Goaltenders

Corey Crawford (Mon), Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers (Chi) and Marc-André Fleury (Cap).

Defensemen

James Sanford (Mon), Patrick Coulombe (Rim), Bruno Gervais (Bat), Doug O’Brien (Gat), Alexandre Picard (Cap), Rosario Ruggeri (Chi) and Nathan Sanders (Mon).

Forwards

Patrice Bergeron (Bat), Marc-André Bernier (Cap), Steve Bernier (Mon), Sidney Crosby (Rim), Stephen Dixon (Cap), François-Pierre Guénette (Cap), Jean-François Jacques (BaC), Alexandre Picard (Lew), Antoine Pouliot (Rim), Dany Roussin (Rim), Maxime Talbot (Gat) and Cory Urquhart (P.E.I); Michael Lambert (P.E.I.) will be there if Patrice Bergeron is absent.

Should Marc-André Fleury nor Patrice Bergeron be back from the NHL, they will respectively be replaced by Maxime Daigneault (VdO) and Michaël Lambert (P.E.I.).

Former defenseman Cam Russel from Halifax will be the honorary captain for the game in Halifax. Russel had a great career with the Hull Olympiques (1985-86 to 1988-89), the Chicago Black Hawks and the Colorado Avalanche, where he ended his professional career in 1998-99. He acted as Assistant Coach with the Halifax Mooseheads in 2000-01 and 2001-02. Former right winger Louis Sleigher will be the honorary captain in Rimouski. Sleigher, born in Nouvelle Quebec, played with the Chicoutimi Sagueneens in 1976-77 and 1977-78, for teams member of the EHL and the AHL, and with the Quebec Nordiques until 1984-85. He was then traded to the Boston Bruins and ended his career in 1985-86.

These two important games will be broadcasted on Rogers Sportsnet and the game in Rimouski will also be broadcasted in French on RDS. During this RE/MAX Canada-Russia Challenge 2003, the Russian team will also play tow games against each the OHL and the WHL.