Eight players who was in the QMJHL last season are among the 32 players invited by Hockey Canada to the 2026 World Junior Summer Showcase, set for July 26-Aug. 1 at the WFCU Centre in Windsor, Ontario.
Three of the four goaltenders invited play in the QMJHL: Lucas Beckman (Montréal, QC/Cape Breton Eagles), William Lacelle (Gatineau, QC/Blainville-Boisbriand Armada) and Samuel Meloche (Les Cèdres, QC/Saint John Sea Dogs).
The only member of this group to have represented Canada at the 2026 World Junior Hockey Championship, Caleb Desnoyers (Saint-Hyacinthe, QC/Moncton Wildcats) will also be present. Philippe Veilleux (Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC) of the Val-d’Or Foreurs will be the other forward among QMJHL representatives.
On defence, the QMJHL will be represented by Alex Huang (Rosemère, QC/Chicoutimi Saguenéens), Charlie Morrison (Miramichi, NB/Québec Remparts) and Xavier Villeneuve (Laval, QC/Blainville-Boisbriand Armada).
The player selection process was led by Alan Millar (Tottenham, ON), general manager of the National Junior Team, alongside Byron Bonora (Brooks, AB), Program of Excellence (POE) head scout, and Dave Brown (Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON/Erie, OHL), assistant general manager of the National Junior Team. Scott Salmond (Creston, BC), Hockey Canada’s senior vice-president of high performance and hockey operations, and Benoit Roy (Sudbury, ON), director of hockey
operations, also provided input.
“We’re excited to announce the 32 players who will attend the World Junior Summer Showcase in Windsor as we begin our preparation for the 2027 IIHF World Junior Championship,” said Millar. “This is an important opportunity for our staff to evaluate a talented group of players against top international competition while continuing to build our identity as a team. We’re looking forward to seeing this group compete and bringing this showcase to Windsor in front of
passionate Canadian hockey fans.”
A first-round pick – fourth overall – for the Utah Mammoth in the 2025 NHL Draft, Desnoyers has just completed his third season with the Wildcats. He racked up 78 points in 45 matches and added a further 25 in 21 play-off fixtures. The winner of the Gilles-Courteau Trophy in 2024–2025 also recorded six assists in seven matches for the Canadian team at the 2026 World Junior Ice Hockey Championship, held in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Along with Lacelle, Veilleux is one of three players invited to the World Junior Summer Showcase who have not been drafted into the NHL. This is the second consecutive season in which he has finished in the top five of the QMJHL’s scoring charts. In 2025–2026, he was the league’s second-highest points scorer, with 43 goals and 96 points in 64 games.
Lacelle spent his most recent season with the Rimouski Océanic and the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. He finished second in the league for save percentage (0.917), fourth for goals against average (2.49), and fifth for wins (27).
Traded to Cape Breton this summer, Beckman led the Chicoutimi Saguenéens to the Gilles-Courteau Trophy in 2025–2026. In particular, he led the league in goals-against average, at 1.98. Having started the season with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar, the Montreal native posted a record of 17-15-3, with a save percentage of .917 and a goals-against average of 2.60. Only with Chicoutimi, he recorded 13 wins and one defeat in 14 games, with a save percentage of .940 and a goals-against average of 1.52. Beckman was a fourth-round pick, 97th overall, for the Ottawa Senators in the 2025 NHL Draft.
Now a member of the Saint John Sea Dogs, Meloche spent the first three seasons of his career playing for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. In 2025–26, he posted a record of 33–13–3, with a GAA of 2.75 and a save percentage of .897. The goaltender from Les Cèdres was a fourth-round pick, 116th overall, by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2025 NHL Draft.
Winner of the Gilles-Courteau Trophy with Chicoutimi, Huang was the QMJHL’s second-highest-scoring defenceman. His 70 points in 62 games represent by far the best season of his career, 30 points clear of his previous personal best. The Nashville Predators selected him in the fourth round, 122nd overall, in the 2025 NHL Draft.
A 6-foot-3 defenceman, Morrison has spent the last two seasons with the Québec Remparts. He recorded 13 points in 45 games last season, with a plus-minus rating of +8. He was drafted in the third round, 77th overall, in the most recent NHL Draft by the New York Rangers.
The team will practice July 27 and 28 before taking on Sweden on July 29, Finland on July 30 and the United States on Aug. 1.
Every game at the World Junior Summer Showcase will be livestreamed at HNLive.ca (subscription required).
