PRAGUE -- There was a nifty McGill University connection at the 2024 IIHF men's world hockey championship in Czechia this month. Nathanael Halbert (BA '20), a former co-captain of the McGill men's hockey team, played a starting role with Great Britain, which finished eighth in Group A of the preliminary round with a 1-6 record. 

Born in Nottingham, England and raised in Richmond Hill, Ont., the six-foot, 194-pound defenceman tallied once in seven games at the IIHF tourney. The 28-year-old was selected twice as GBR's player of the game:  against Denmark on May 17 and versus Austria on May 21.

Halbert is believed to be the first McGill hockey grad on the men's side to play an official game at the IIHF world championship. Previously eight McGill men have suited up for Canada at various exhibitions and tournaments, including a trio who skated at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Germany. and two others who played at the Spengler Cup in Switzerland.

A defensive-minded rearguard, Halbert patrolled the McGill blueline from 2016-17 to 2019-20 before graduating with a bachelor of Arts, majoring in economics. Over his four seasons in the university ranks, he scored 36 points, including seven goals, and was whistled for 131 penalty minutes in 114 contests overall. In OUA regular season play, he posted a 3-16-19 career record with 80 PIMs in 68 appearances. In the post-season, he had 10 career points, nine of them assists, with 23 PIMs in 23 outings.  

Halbert made the jump to the American Hockey League in his senior year, playing seven games with the Laval Rocket before continuing his pro career in Europe. He skated for two seasons in Britain with HC Coventry of the Elite Ice Hockey League, where he served as team captain in 2022-23. Last fall, he signed with HC Innsbruck of the International Central European Hockey League (ICEHL), the top-tier league in Austria and previously known as the EBEL.

In 2015, Halbert was invited to participate in a rookie camp with the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins. During his junior hockey career, he played in 168 regular season games in the QMJHL for Blainville-Boisbriand and Sherbrooke, where he tallied 63 career points with 15 goals and 199 penalty minutes. His single-season high was 24 points in 52 contests during the 2014-15 campaign.

The Brits (1-6) were outscored in the IIHF tourney by a 30-12 margin. Their lone victory, a 4-2 upset over Austria (2-5) in their last game of the group stage, knocked the Austrians out but wasn't enough to save GBR from relegation to the lower-level IIHF world B championship next year.

SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-983-7012 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca