Brett Howden will be living out a dream over the next three weeks after he was named to Canada’s National Junior Team on Friday.

The Moose Jaw Warriors captain made the team in his second go around after being cut last year. Falling short last year served as motivation for Howden as he entered this year’s camp.

“I worked really hard this past year to overcome what had happened last year and the disappointment, but I’m really happy with how things turned out and just really excited to be a part of this team,” said Howden.

“Last year helped a lot, I got a lot of advice about what I could do better, I learned a lot and coming back this year, I was lot more confident and comfortable to do my thing out there.”

Howden is no stranger to representing Canada on the international stage and this pressure that comes with that. This will be the fifth occasion that he’s wore the maple leaf, having previously played for Canada at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, the Ivan Hlinka U18 Memorial Cup and twice at the World Under-18 Championship.

However, playing for the national junior team is whole different kind of pressure. Howden said he has bought into what they’re trying to do and looking forward to seeing how the team settles into their roles.

“Any role that’s given to you, you just accept,” he said. “We’ve got a great group of guys, four great lines, great D and great goalies, and anybody is willing to accept any role.

“It’s going to be a hard working team, there’s lots of guys in here that are super skilled and talented, obviously, but the work ethic of this team will carry it all the way. That’s what’s going to be the identity of this team, doing whatever it takes to win.”

Howden is in his second season as Warriors’ captain and he’s worn the ‘C’ before for Canada at the World U18s. He’s one of four players that are the captain of their junior teams that will be playing for Canada this year, there’s also 11 players that are alternate captains with their respective teams.

“This group is full of leaders, everybody is the main guy on their home team,” he said. “To bring this group of guys together, there’s so much leadership, there’s so many quality people in the room with great characteristics. It’s a really tight group and we want to take advantage of our chemistry.”

The team was picked on Friday, they play a pair of pre-tournament games over the next few days and then open the tournament on Boxing Day next week.

“We’ve got to come out hot, we can’t linger around and wait for the tournament to start,” he said, “We need to come out of the gates at full speed, we’re going to start playing our game right away on Wednesday and that started today in practice, we’re going to keep the intensity up and be ready to go.”

Canada will square off with the Czech Republic on Wednesday in London, Ont. and then they battle Switzerland in Hamilton, Ont. on Friday in their pair of pre-tournament games. The 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship opens on Boxing Day with Canada squaring off against Finland at Key Bank Center in Buffalo, N.Y.