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Cozens, Quinn to Represent Canada at World Juniors

Buffalo Sabres prospects Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn have both made Team Canada’s roster ahead of the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championships.

Hockey Canada announced its final roster cuts on Friday afternoon, a few short days before all of the participating teams are set to head to Edmonton to begin their “bubbles.” The tournament is scheduled to begin on December 25, a day earlier than usual, and run through January 5.

Team Canada is already in Alberta and has been hosting their camp in Red Deer.

Cozens, 19, was pretty much considered a lock to make the roster, so there’s no surprise there. The Sabres’ first-round pick in 2019, Cozens recorded a career-high 85 points in just 51 games last season with the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes, including 47 assists.

He was also part of the Canadian squad that won the gold medal in the 2020 tournament, putting up nine points in seven games.

Quinn, although certainly a talent in his own right, was less of a certainty, and heading into Friday, it was still considered a possibility that he could be among the team’s final cuts. However, it’s nice to see him get the chance to represent his country in his first World Juniors.

Quinn, 19, was drafted by the Sabres earlier this year with the eighth-overall selection. He’s coming off a career-best season after he more than doubled his points total from the 2018-19 season. Quinn recorded 89 points, including 52 goals, in just 62 games with the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s.

Other notable names on Canada’s roster include Kirby Dach (Chicago), Dylan Holloway (Edmonton, University of Wisconsin), Alex Newhook (Colorado, Boston College) and Jamie Drysdale (Anaheim, Erie/OHL).

Other countries will make their rosters official in the coming days, and we’ll keep you updated as they do. All games in the 2021 tournament are being played at Rogers Place in Edmonton. No fans will be permitted to attend, and all referees & linesmen will be Canadian as a result of the ongoing pandemic and border closures.

This year’s tournament is set to feature teams from Canada, Finland, Switzerland, Slovakia, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Austria, the United States and the Czech Republic. Several teams have already been dealing with COVID, including Canada and Sweden.