The German Ice Hockey Association announced on Friday a list of 26 players that it’s bringing to Canada for the upcoming IIHF World Junior Championship in Ottawa. The roster include a mix of players based in Germany or in Canadian junior leagues.

The only drafted player on the roster is defenseman Norwin Panocha, a Buffalo Sabres prospect who plays for the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL. Undrafted 19-year-old center Julian Sumpf has 37 points in 28 games for the Moncton Wildcats of the QMJHL. The roster also includes four 2007-born players who are eligible for the 2025 NHL Entry Draft – most notably David Lewandowski of the WHL’ Saskatoon Blades, who could go as early as the third round, and defenseman Carlos Händel of the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads.

“The decisive factor for our selections was the performances shown during our last tournament (in November) and we also took into account their current development with their clubs,” said coach Tobias Abstreiter.

The German team will fly from Munich to Montreal on Monday, Dec. 9, before heading to Charlottetown, PEI for the team’s training camp. The Germans will have a pair of pre-tournament games in Charlottetown and Moncton, N.B. against Slovakia, which is also training in the Maritimes.

“The focus of the first pre-tournament games will be on the transition to the small ice surface,” Abstreiter continued. “That’s also one of the main reasons why we are flying to Canada relatively early. We also want to use those four games to put together the line-ups and find the individual roles of the players. The games against Slovakia, Kazakhstan and Sweden will do us good and prepare us as best as possible for the upcoming World Junior Championship and our tournament opener against the USA.”