MacKinnon, Lyle, Taylor Named to Team Atlantic
Nov. 24, 2011


   

Three former Maritime Hockey Academy students were named to this year’s Team Atlantic Male Under 17 team who will compete in the upcoming World Under 17 Hockey Challenge in Windsor, Ontario.

Nathan MacKinnon, Michael Lyle, and Zack Taylor will suit up for the Atlantic reps in the 10 team tournament which takes place December 29, 2011 to January 4, 2012. 
The tournament features the best hockey players in the world born in 1995 or later and includes five Canadian teams (Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, West, Pacific) and five international teams (United States, Germany, Sweden, Russia, Czech Republic).

MacKinnon (Halifax Mooseheads) and Lyle (Acadie-Bathurst Titan) are both 16 year old rookies in the QMJHL while Taylor is a second round QMJHL draft pick of the Shawinigan Cataractes now playing with the Dartmouth Major Midgets.

Since the first World Under-17 Hockey Challenge (then known as the Quebec Esso Cup) in 1986, more than 1,100 NHL draft picks have played in the tournament, including nine of the last 11 first-overall selections (Ilya Kovalchuk, 2001; Rick Nash, 2002; Marc-André Fleury, 2003; Alexander Ovechkin, 2004; Erik Johnson, 2006; Patrick Kane, 2007; John Tavares, 2009; Taylor Hall, 2010; Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 2011).

Congratulations boys and best of luck at the World Championships in Windsor!