/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/4898751/117242052.0.jpg)
Team Canada's 4-1 loss to the University of Alberta Golden Bears this afternoon motivated the junior squad's management staff to make their first round of roster cuts this evening before the team's 23-player roster is finalized on Thursday.
The players released from camp today are Sean Monahan, Francis Beauvillier, Tyler Graovac, Derrick Pouliot, and former Flames prospect Matt Pelech's younger brother Adam Pelech.
Flames prospects Tyler Wotherspoon and Laurent Brossoit remain on the squad, which departs for Helsinki on Saturday to play two exhibition games before the tournament. Brossoit and Jake Paterson shared the crease for the Golden Bears in today's game, and Brossoit stopped 18 of 19 shots he faced.
Players like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins sat this one out, which head coach Steve Spott said was for the purpose of giving other, lesser-known players "a legitimate opportunity to make this hockey club."
Thirty-one players remain in Canada's selection camp, and the final game against the Golden Bears on Thursday will give these youngsters one more chance to show Spott and Co. what they're made of before the final cuts are made.