Trio of men's hockey players with Ottawa connections to represent Canada at Winter Games

Mason McTavish of Carp, Ont. will represent Canada at the Winter Games in Beijing. (Photo courtesy: TSN)

Team Canada has named its Olympic men's hockey roster for the upcoming 2022 Winter Games, and three players with connections to the capital region will be looking to play different roles at the tournament.

The youngest player on the team is Carp's Mason McTavish. The son of former NHLer Dale McTavish, Mason will turn 19-years-old on Jan. 30, just days before the Winter Games in Beijing begin.

Currently playing with the Hamilton Bulldogs of the Ontario Hockey League, McTavish was drafted by the Anaheim Ducks third overall in 2021, and also had a brief stint with the Pembroke Lumber Kings.

Coach and mentor Pat Malloy, who trains numerous NHLer's, saw McTavish's potential from the beginning.

"It's the same game that he's played in Carp on the outdoor rink, now it's on a bigger scale and the sky is the limit for what he is going to be able to do," says Malloy, who is also the general manager of the Smiths Falls Bears hockey organization.

"He won't be awe struck by the moment," Malloy tells CTV News Ottawa.

McTavish has already featured for Anaheim in the NHL and was projecting to be a star for Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championships before the tournament was called off just weeks ago.

"I think what we've seen of him, the world has seen of him, and the country has seen of him in a short period of time is that he's not fazed by big moments."

When the puck drops for Canada's first game Feb. 10 versus Germany, Ottawa's Eric O'Dell will be one of only four players on the team with prior Olympic experience.

O'Dell won bronze with Team Canada at the Winter Games in 2018, playing six games and notching a goal and an assist.

"I just think as a citizen of Ottawa it's great for the city that we've got this two-time Olympian in the hockey world," says Steve Barban, owner of the Navan Grads junior hockey organization. "It's a big deal."

During the 2007-2008 season, O'Dell was a member of the Navan Grads in the CCHL. Barban had bought the team the season prior in 2006, and remembers O'Dell helped lead the squad to a dominant year.

"We're very proud of him as a former Navan Grad of course," says Barban. "Very proud of him coming from our league, because honestly I think it's a very well kept secret, unfortunately. The CCHL pushes out a lot of pro hockey players."

O'Dell is currently playing professional hockey with Dynamo Moscow in Russia.

One of three goaltenders travelling with Team Canada to Beijing this February is former Carleton Place Canadian Devon Levi. Levi spent just one season from 2019-2020 playing in Carleton Place but made it a successful one, winning 34 of his 37 games played, and earning him the starting spot for Canada's junior team at the world championships, winning silver.

"He's got an unbelievable work ethic," says his former Canadians coach Jason Clarke. "He takes care of himself on and off the ice. What he's been achieving over the last year and a half since he's left Carleton Place is not surprising to me at all."

Levi was a seventh round NHL draft pick in 2020 and is a member of the Buffalo Sabres organization. Currently the 20-year-old goalie is playing in the NCAA at Northeastern University. Levi has no NHL experience yet, but Clarke is expecting Levi to take a leading role and shine with Team Canada at the Winter Games.

"I already know he will be the starter and he'll get that team to the gold medal game," says Clarke. "There's no doubt in my mind."