(The Canadian Press)

By Ian Gustafson

Olympic fever

Former Rebels Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Brandon Hagel invited to national men’s team orientation camp

Aug 1, 2025 | 3:14 PM

Former Red Deer Rebels Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Brandon Hagel have been invited to Canada’s national men’s team orientation camp.

They’ll join 42 other National Hockey League players, including three goaltenders, 13 defencemen, and 26 forwards that will take part in the camp set to run from Aug. 26-28 in Calgary.

The rest of the invitees includes the likes of Sidney Crosby, John Tavares, Nathan MacKinnon, Brad Marchand, Connor McDavid, and Cale Makar, among plenty of other big names.

They’ll compete in hopes of making the men’s national team roster for the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Italy from Friday, Feb. 6 to Sunday, Feb. 22.

Nugent- Hopkins played for the Rebels from 2009 to 2011 and scored 177 points. He went on to be picked first overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2011 NHL Draft where he continues to play today.

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Meantime, Hagel played four seasons in Red Deer from 2015 to 2019 and notched 279 points including a 102-point campaign in his final season in the WHL.

He was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the sixth round in 2016 but played his first full season in the NHL in 2019-20 for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Now with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Hagel is fresh off representing Canada at the NHL’s 4 Nations Cup where they won gold in the tournament final over the United States.

A list of the entire roster invited to the camp can be found on the Hockey Canada website.