McGill hockey duo to play for Canada along with Redbirds coach Urquhart at FISU Games in Italy

MONTREAL – Forwards Mathieu Gagnon and William Rouleau from McGill University have joined Redbirds head coach David Urquhart on the 23-man hockey roster who will wear the maple leaf for Canada at the 2025 FISU Winter World University Games in Torino, Italy, Jan. 13-23.

The team, announced on Tuesday, will also serve as the 2024 U SPORTS Selects, an all-star squad of student-athletes, competing against Hockey Canada's hopefuls, who are vying for a roster spot on at the upcoming IIHF world junior championship.

Gagnon, 23, who hails from Gatineau, Que., currently has 15 points, including six goals, in 16 regular season contests. Since joining the Redbirds in 2022, the management junior has compiled a career total of 24-52-76 in 101 games overall.

Rouleau, also a 23-year-old management junior, is from St. Basile de Portneuf, Que. He has four goals and 13 points in nine OUA games this season. and a 41-64-105 career record in 88 games overall.

Canada is the defending gold medalists from the 2023 FISU Games in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Urquhart is part of the coaching staff announced in October by U SPORTS, that will serve under Calgary Dinos bench boss Mark Howell, along with Brett Gibson (Queen's), Forbes MacPherson (UPEI) and Johnny Duco (TMU), who will handle video duties. Richard Lim of Royal Military College will serve as team lead and Jamie Nicholl-Crane (Queen's) was named as equipment manager.

Urquhart, 40, has previous hockey experience in Italy, where he skated for three years for teams in Valpellice (2011-12) and Pontebba (2012-13) before guiding Ritten-Renon to a league championship in 2014

"The coaching staff is extremely excited about the group of athletes we have put together, who will represent Team Canada at the upcoming 2025 FISU Games," said Howell, a two-time recipient of the U SPORTS coach-of-the-year award. "We have worked diligently to assemble a team that will play a fast, skilled and relentless style of hockey. As always there are some extremely difficult decisions when you are evaluating the top players across the country. Yet, it was our mission to put together the best team and not just a collection of players. For a competition like this, you need to be able to play a variety of styles and need players who are talented yet can also check and have a high hockey IQ. We are excited to start our journey next week in Ottawa as we play Canada's national junior team."

The FISU men's hockey tourney is slated to run from Jan. 12-22. The preliminary round will be played in Pinerolo, before moving to Torino's PalaTazzoli for the medal round.

This is also the 10th time since 2015 that a team of U SPORTS men's hockey all-stars will be facing off against members of Canada's national junior team selection camp, competing in a two-game series at TD Place in Ottawa, Ontario from Dec. 10-13.

The Team Canada roster is comprised of five players from the Canada West conference, 12 from the OUA, and six from the AUS.  The lineup features a trio of 2024 All-Canadians, including Kale McCallum (UNB), Colson Gengenbach (Calgary), and Jake Lee (UBC).

McCallum is one of three members of the reigning U SPORTS champion UNB Reds, joined by winger Benjamin Corbeil and goaltender Samuel Richard.

The sole returner from the 2023 gold medal winning roster is TMU netminder Kai Edmonds, who was the winning goaltender in Canada's 7-2 victory over the United States in the championship game.

"It's a huge accomplishment to be selected to the team once again," said Edmonds. "It's such a well-run event with the best players across U SPORTS as well as a great coaching staff around you. They really help prepare get the best out of everyone and it's an honour to wear the maple leaf. Growing up watching all Team Canada hockey tournaments it's always something I've dreamed of and having the opportunity to do that a second time now is a privilege and I'm grateful for that opportunity. "

The roster will be bolstered by Concordia's Simon Lavigne, who leads all U SPORTS defenders in scoring, with 11 goals in 16 games. The nation's leading goal-scorer Nolan Hutcheson (Queen's) will be joined up front by Corbeil, who paces all skaters in assists with 18 in 16 games. UNB's Richard leads all goaltenders in wins with 12, and GAA with 1.29.

Team Canada will open its schedule on Jan. 11 against South Korea.

U SPORTS TEAM CANADA ROSTER FOR 2025 FISU WINTER GAMES

FIRST NAME	FAMILY NAME	POS	UNIVERSITY
Simon	Lavigne	D	Concordia
Mathieu	Bizier	C	Concordia
Mikael	Huchette	F	Concordia
William	Rouleau	LW/C	McGill
Mathieu	Gagnon	C	McGill
Jack	Duff	D	Queen's
Nolan	Hutcheson	LW	Queen's
Charlie	Callaghan	LD	St.Francis Xavier
Connor	Bowie	C	TMU
Kai	Edmonds	G	TMU
Conor	Frenette	C	UQTR
Loris	Rafanomezantsoa	D	UQTR
Sasha	Mutala	RW	UBC
Samuel	Huo	C/R	UBC
Jake	Lee	D/L	UBC
Colson	Gengenbach	L/RW	Calgary
Kale	McCallum	LD	UNB
Samuel	Richard	G	UNB
Benjamin	Corbeil	RW	UNB
Francesco	Lapenna	G	Ottawa
Kaleb	Pearson	RW	UPEI
Kurtis	Henry	LD	UPEI
Liam	Keeler	C/R	Saskatchewan
COACHING STAFF:
Mark	Howell	Head Coach	Calgary
Brett	Gibson	Assoc. Coach	Queen's
Richard	Lim	Team Leader	RMC
David	Urquhart	Asst. Coach	McGill
Forbes	MacPherson	Asst. Coach	UPEI
John	Duco	Asst/Video Coach	TMU
Jamie	Nicholl-Carne	Equipment Mgr.	Queen's
Adam	Ellwood	Athletic Therapist	Windsor