Surrey native Brenden Dillon will be playing for Canada at the World Hockey Championships May 3-19 in Stockholm, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland.
The Dallas Stars defenceman was among a group of 22 players named to the team Sunday afternoon by Hockey Canada.
“We have a received a great response from the players that we have approached, and we are very pleased with the roster that we have assembled to date,” said national men’s team executive director Steve Yzerman earier this week. “We look forward to getting together as a team in Stockholm on May 1 and preparing for the world championship.”
Dillon began the season with the Texas Stars of the American Hockey League, playing at the minor league level in Cedar Park, Texas while the NHL was shut down due to a lockout.
He played 37 games with Texas, scoring three times and adding 11 assists to go with 72 penalty minutes, before he was called up by the Dallas Stars when the NHL lockout was lifted in January.
One of just four Stars to play all 48 games in the NHL regular season, the six-foot-three, 228-pound defenceman totaled three goals and eight points, while earning 65 minutes in penalties.
Signed as a free agent by the Dallas Stars following his final season of junior hockey with the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western hockey League, Dillon played 10 games with the AHL’s Stars at the end of the 2010-11 season, then was with the team for the full 76-game season a year ago. He netted six goals and added 23 assists.
Canada will begin the World Championship tournament Saturday in Stockholm, facing off against Denmark. They will play Switzerland on Sunday.
Dillon is one of five players on the Canadian roster to have never played in an international event.