14 WHL players named to roster for 2002 CHL Home Hardware Top Prospects Festivities

Saskatoon, SK: -- Three members of Canadaâs silver medal winning team from the World Junior Hockey Championships are among the players who will take part in the 2002 CHL Home Hardware Top Prospects Festivities.

Along with names of the 40 players who will participate in the events&rsqou; Hockey Night in Canada commentator and former Western Hockey League goaltending star Kelly Hrudey and former WHL star and former Toronto Maple Leaf, Dave "Tiger" Williams were on hand in Saskatoon for todayâs announcements.

The Canadian Hockey League along with the 2002 Home Hardware Top Prospects Organizing Committee announced the rosters for the 2002 CHL Home Hardware Top Prospects Game, as selected by the National Hockey League&rsqou;s Central Scouting Department at a media conference in Saskatoon today. This yearâs game takes place at Saskatchewan Place in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on Thursday, January 31 and features the top 40 CHL prospects for the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, as selected by the NHL&rsqou;s CentralScouting Department. The game will be broadcast live on Rogers Sportsnet.

Virtually every player to perform in the CHL Home Hardware Top Prospect Game has been selected in the NHL Entry Draft. Such current NHL stars as Joe Thornton, Vincent Lecavalier, Simon Gagne, David Legwand, Scott Gomez, Chris Phillips, Alex Tanguay and Eric Brewer have appeared in the game

Forty of the best young prospects in the CHL will appear in this yearâs game, including 16 players from the Ontario Hockey League, 14 players from the Western Hockey League and 10 players from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Among the players participating this year include three members of Canada&rsqou;s silver medal winning team -- forward Scottie Upshall of the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL, defenceman Jay Bouwmeester of the Medicine Hat Tigers of the WHL and forward Rick Nash of the London Knights of the OHL.

Bouwmeester is the number one ranked player from the WHL on the NHL&rsqou;s preliminary rankings while Upshall is number two. Nash is the number one ranked prospect from the OHL on the NHL&rsqou;s preliminary rankings. Ben Eager of the Oshawa Generals is the second ranked OHL player on that list and he will also be in the game.

The two top QMJHL prospects on the NHL Central Scouting Bureau list are defenceman Martin Vagner of the Hull Olympiques and defenceman Francois Caron of the Moncton Wildcats, who will lead the 10-player Quebec delegation into the game.

The complete roster of players for the 2002 CHL Home Hardware Top Prospects Game is attached to this release. The Kamloops Blazers of the WHL have the most players in the game with three, while 11 other CHL teams have two players each participating in this yearâs game (Plymouth, Oshawa, Kitchener and Sault Ste. Marie from the OHL, Chicoutimi, Hull, Moncton and Shawinigan from the QMJHL and Brandon, Medicine Hat and Swift Current from the WHL).

The Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League have teamed-up with Saskatoon Sports Tourism to host the 2002 CHL Home Hardware Top Prospects Festivities at Saskatchewan Place. Saskatoon Sports Tourism is a non-profit&rsqou; partnership organization formed to guide the attraction, retention and creation of sports tourism activities in the city of Saskatoon.

Kelly Hrudey and Dave "Tiger" Williams will take over the coaching reigns for the CHL Home Hardware Top Prospects Game from hockey legend Bobby Orr and Hockey Night in Canada icon Don Cherry, who are both stepping aside after six years behind the bench at the event. In future years the game&rsqou;s celebrity coaches will have ties to the community where the game is being played in, hence this year&rsqou;s selection of Hrudey and Williams, both of whom are from Western Canada and played their junior hockey in the WHL.

New to the Top Prospects Game this year will be a Skills Competition which will be held the night before the game on Wednesday, January 30 at 7 p.m.

Tickets are available for $20 for the two-day hockey event. For more information on the 2002 CHL Home Hardware Top Prospects festivities, call the Saskatoon Blades office at (306) 975-8844 or Select-A-Seat at 306-938-7800.

The following are the 14 players selected from the Western Hockey League&rsqou; the complete roster can be found at www.chl.ca.