CALGARY – Head Coach Craig Hartsburg announced Friday that Kristopher Letang (Ste-Julie, QC/Val d’Or, QMJHL) has been named captain of Canada’s National Junior Team for the upcoming 2007 IIHF World Junior Championship in Leksand and Mora, Sweden, to .
Letang, an alternate captain with the Foreurs, has 25 points in 16 games since being returned to Val d’Or from the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins on October 30.
He was a member of the 2006 National Junior Team that won the gold medal at the 2006 World Juniors in Vancouver, and also won a silver medal with the National Under-18 Team at the 2005 World Under-18 Championship in the Czech Republic.
A third round pick (62nd overall) of the Penguins at the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, Letang began the season in Pittsburgh and had two goals in seven NHL games.
Hartsburg also named four alternate captains for the upcoming tournament. As per IIHF rules, two players will wear the ‘A’ each game.
Steve Downie (Queensville, ON/Peterborough, OHL), Tom Pyatt (Thunder Bay, ON/Saginaw, OHL), Jonathan Toews (Winnipeg, MB/North Dakota, WCHA) and Marc Staal (Thunder Bay, ON/Sudbury, OHL) were all named alternates. Downie and Staal are captains of the Petes and Wolves, respectively, while Pyatt and Toews are alternates with their respective club teams.
All four were members of last year’s gold medal-winning National Junior Team in Vancouver.