On Wednesday, the Montreal Canadiens and Hamilton Bulldogs announced that they will allow W Andrei Kostitsyn to join Team Belarus for the 2005 World Junior Championships. He will join the team in North Dakota on December 21st.
This year, Belarus will play in the ‘A’ pool, largely due to the play of the skilled winger. Kostitsyn has played in 4 World Juniors already, and has also played in 4 Under-18 championships.
This season, Kostitsyn has recorded 4 goals and 3 assists with 6 PIMS in 24 games with the Bulldogs. He is the 3rd Canadiens prospect to be playing in this tournament, joining goalies Jaroslav Halak (Slovakia), and Christopher Heino-Lindberg (Sweden). A 4th, Alexei Yemelin has been invited to Russia’s training camp.
The tournament begins on December 25th, with Belarus competing in the same division as Russia, USA, and the Czech Republic.