Jake Neighbours is heading to Europe today with the rest of Team Canada after being selected to play in the U18 Gretzky Hlinka Cup.

Last night, Neighbours, 17, was among the 22 players selected from a camp featuring 44 of the best U18 players in Canada. The team will aspire to defend Canada's title at the tournament, being hosted this year by Breclav, Czech Republic and Piestany, Slovakia, Aug. 5-10.

Near the end of the camp, Neighbour spoke of what it meant to have a chance to once again travel overseas to represent Canada.

"The international level is a whole different type of game," says Neighbours. "Getting to play for Team Canada is an honour and get to play in games against Russia and the US and big rivalries like that is pretty special. I'm coming into this event with the same goal to make the team and head back overseas to play in another international tournament."

He felt strong during the five-day camp that ended yesterday at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park in Calgary.

"I've been working on my skating a little bit and I felt a bit faster out there. The pace of the games is high and it's really good competition but I'm feeling confident and I'm feeling good. It's been a good camp so far."

The Edmonton Oil King was team captain for the Canada White team in the 2018 World U17 Hockey Challenge that included teams from the Czech Republic, Russia, Finland, Sweden and the USA.

In his first full season with the Oil Kings, he scored 11 goals and had 13 assists in 47 games for a plus 5 rating. The Oil Kings finished at the top in the WHL's central division and had a solid playoff run before bowing out to the Prince Alberta Raiders in the eastern conference finals in six games.

"We had a good run last year. We're a young core. We're losing a bit of scoring there but we have a lot of younger guys that are going to step up and hopefully have good seasons, including myself. We need some guys to step up into some bigger roles and we're hoping to have a good long season."

Canada will face off against Slovakia in pre-tournament action on  Aug. 3 in Piestany before moving on to Breclav, where it opens the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup against Finland on Aug. 5.

One day before the team was announced Team Canada Head Coach Michael Dyck spoke highly of Neighbours performance in the camp.

"He's a big strong guy and he gets around the ice well. He competes hard, he's got a great shot. He's had a good camp."

Cochrane defenceman Tyrel Bauer also was invited to the camp. Facing some tough choices for the final roster, Team Canada head coach Michael Dyck spoke highly of Bauer's performance.

"He has played well. He's a character guy. He's a really solid defenseman, he defends extremely well, he's physical and he's very hard to play against."