Men's Ice Hockey Alumnus Danforth to Compete With Team Canada at 2021 IIHF Men's World Championship
5/21/2021 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
RIGA, Latvia- Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey alumnus Justin Danforth '17 has been named to the 2021 Team Canada National team roster for the upcoming 2021 International Ice Hockey Federation Men's World Championship, which will be held on May 21-June 6 in Riga, Latvia.
Team Canada kicks off the competition on May 21 at 1:15 pm versus host Latvia. The games in the tournament will air live on NHL Network.
Danforth posted 23 goals and 32 assists for 55 points with 50 penalty minutes, 12 power-play goals, and a +3 plus/minus rating in 58 games with Vityaz Podolsk in the Kontinental Hockey League in 2020-21. He ranked fifth-T in the league in power-play goals, sixth in points, seventh-T in goals, and 11th-T in assists, leading his team in each category.
Danforth, a recent NHL signee to the Columbus Blue Jackets, registered 45 goals, 67 assists for 112 points, and a cumulative +33 plus/minus rating over two campaigns with Lukko in Finland's top professional league (Liiga) from 2018-20. He captured the Lasse Oksanen Award as the league's best player, the Golden Helmet (top scorer), and was named to the All-Star Team in 2019-20 after leading the league in points and ranking second in goals and fourth-T in assists with 27-33-60 in 56 appearances.
The forward also spent time in the American Hockey League (AHL) and East Coast Hockey (ECHL) League since turning pro in 2016-17. He notched four goals, three assists, for seven points in 21 career AHL contests with the Rochester Americans and local Bridgeport Sound Tigers from 2016-18. He also posted 29 goals, 33 assists for 62 points in 47 career ECHL contests with the Cincinnati Cyclones and Reading Royals. He was named the league's Rookie of the Year and named the Second All-Star Team and All-Rookie Team in 2017-18 after tallying 28 goals, 31 assists for 59 points in 44 outings with Cincinnati.
During his time at SHU, Danforth registered 42 goals, 82 assists for 124 points in 147 career games from 2013-17. He was named to the All-Atlantic Hockey First Team in his senior season where he led the team in points (32) tallying 22 assists and 10 goals.
2015 alumnus Ben Lake is also participating in the World Championships playing for Team Great Britain. Lake has been playing in Great Britain for the Manchester Storm in Britain for the past season and has been floating around the British league EIHL for the past four seasons. Since he went pro in 2015, Lake has tallied 82 goals, 118 assists for 200 points including an impressive 2018-19 season recording a career-high 34 goals, 43 assists for 77 points. The team faces Russia on Saturday to kick-off play.
