WHL Edmonton Oil Kings

Lowe Picked For Team USA

Published on July 19, 2010 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Edmonton Oil Kings News Release


Edmonton, AB - For the second consecutive year, the Edmonton Oil Kings are sending a talented young defenceman to compete at the U-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.

Buffalo Sabres recent first-round draft pick Mark Pysyk was selected to compete for Team Canada at the 2009 tournament, and now fellow Oil Kings blue-liner Keegan Lowe will suit up for the United States at the 2010 event.

USA Hockey announced their roster for the tournament late last week, and the 21 players will now begin to prepare to head to Breclav, Czech Republic, and Piestany, Slovakia for the Aug. 9-14 competition against the world's best U-18 talent.

Lowe, the son of former Edmonton Oilers defenceman and current Oilers President of Hockey Operations Kevin Lowe, is one of eight defencemen on the Team USA roster. He joins two fellow Western Hockey League players on the squad - defenceman Tanner Mort from the Spokane Chiefs and forward Lukas Sutter from the Saskatoon Blades.

Lowe is a 6-foot-1, 175-pound defenceman who played his rookie season with the Oil Kings this past year. The 17-year-old suited up for 69 regular season games, tallying two goals and 12 assists, as well as 60 penalty minutes.

Team USA will be coached by Tim Army, the men's ice hockey coach at Providence College. Their preliminary round games at the Ivan Hlinka Tournament will be against Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Russia and Finland.

The Americans have finished in the top three nine times since the tournament's inception in 1991, and won the gold medal at the tournament in 2003. They finished as silver medalists six times, most recently as 2006. The tournament honours the late Ivan Hlinka, a former Czechoslovakian national team player and coach.

At last year's U-18 summer tournament, Pysyk helped Team Canada capture the gold medal with a dominant 9-2 win over Russia. Team Canada outscored their opponents 40-7 over the course of the competition.

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Western Hockey League Stories from July 19, 2010


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