Matthew Wood and Tanner Molendyk will represent Canada at the World Juniors in Sweden later this month.
On Wednesday Hockey Canada announced their final roster for the 2024 World Juniors and Nashville's two first round picks from this year's NHL Draft will be heading to Sweden to compete for Team Canada. Forward Matthew Wood and defenseman Tanner Molendyk made the final roster.
Wood was chosen by the Predators with their fifteenth overall pick at the draft held in Nashville in June. The 18-year-old was born in Lethbridge, Alberta and is in his second season with the UConn Huskies. In his freshman season, Wood scored 11 goals and 34 pints in 35 games. Seventeen games into his sophomore season, Wood has seven goals and 12 points.
This will be Wood's third opportunity to represent his home country internationally. He played for Team Canada in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 in U18 competition. In the 2022-2023 U18's Wood played seven games and scored seven goals and thirteen points.
Defenseman Tanner Molendyk also made the final roster for Team Canada. This will be his first time representing Canada in an IIHF tournament. The Kamloops, British Columbia native is in his fourth season with the Saskatoon Blades. So far this season, Molendyk has four goals and 28 points in 24 games. In 2022-2023, the 6'0" defenseman recorded nine goals and 37 points in 67 games and played 18 postseason games in which he scored three goals and eight points.
Molendyk and Wood will compete in the World Juniors in Sweden which runs from December 26-January 5. Team Canada will play their first fame December 26 against Finland.