Three Ottawa-area players named to Canadian men's Olympic hockey team

Ottawa native Eric O'Dell, seen here in training camp with the Ottawa Senators, has been named to his second men's Olympic hockey team. (Ottawa Senators)

Canada's Olympic men's hockey team will feature two players with Ottawa-area connections when they hit the ice next month.

Ottawa native Eric O'Dell will be making his second Olympic appearance after playing on the bronze-medal winning Canadian team in the 2018 Games.

O'Dell grew up playing minor hockey in west Ottawa and played junior hockey for the Ottawa Jr. Senators and Cumberland Grads. The Ottawa Senators later signed him as a free agent in 2015, though he never played an NHL game for them.

The forward has spent the last several seasons in Russia's Kontinental Hockey League.

Mason McTavish, a Carp native who played at the recent world junior championships until they were cancelled, was also named to the team. The Anaheim Ducks prospect plays for the Hamilton Bulldogs of the OHL.

Goaltender Devon Levi has also been named to the team. Levi played junior hockey with the Carleton Place Casnadians and won a silver medal at the 2021 World Junior Hockey Championships.

Hockey Canada announces the 25-player Olympic roster on Tuesday, headlined by former NHLer Eric Staal and NHL prospect Owen Power.

Two more players with Ottawa connections were named as reserves for the team: Max Veronneau, an Ottawa native who played 16 games with the Senators and is now playing in Sweden, and Chris DiDomenico, who played 27 games with the Senators over two seasons and now plays in Switzerland.

The NHL announced last month that its players would not participate in the Olympics because of the surging Omicron variant of COVID-19.