Team Canada’s World Junior Summer Showcase spans from July 28 to Aug. 3 in Windsor, Ontario and Plymouth, Michigan.

When Noah Chadwick was invited to Team Canada’s World Junior Summer Showcase, there was a feeling of accomplishment.

The 19-year-old sixth-round (185th overall) pick in the 2023 NHL Draft had an impressive year with the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes, doubling his offensive output from his draft year.

In 66 games, Chadwick had 12 goals and 44 assists, the most among Lethbridge defensemen and 10th among WHL defenders. Putting his strong offensive output together with his defensive skill helped the defender be one of 42 players to receive an invite to Canada’s camp.

“It’s really exciting,” Chadwick told TSN’s Mark Masters on Monday about receiving the invite to Team Canada’s Summer Showcase. “Super excited to get the call from Pete (Anholt), our Lethbridge GM too. Real special.”

The defenseman joins fellow Maple Leafs forward prospect Easton Cowan at the camp. Cowan has the chance to make Team Canadas’s World Junior roster for the second time, while Chadwick, destined for a massive year, hopes to play for his home country for the first time.

An invite to the Summer Showcase is the first step to that goal.

“I think as soon as I got that invite, it was all that preparation leading up to it and I think the more you say something, the more you believe it,” Chadwick said to reporters, including Masters.

“I think everyone here is some of the best players in Canada. It’s just an opportunity for me to show what I can do and just try to get better every day and try to earn a spot come September.”

After his year ended with Lethbridge, Chadwick joined the Toronto Marlies for a stint in the AHL. He got into one game and looked fairly comfortable in a much bigger and stronger league than the defender is used to.

Chadwick said he’s spent time in Toronto this summer working on his skating and situational awareness. Standing at 6-foot-4, his movement on the ice is crucial to reach the next level.

However, at the moment, Chadwick has already put enough pieces together to show that he should’ve been picked earlier in the draft, and to give himself a chance to represent Canada later this year.

“He makes a great first pass, can really defend, body position is elite, his hockey sense is elite. He just keeps going about his business quietly,” Lethbridge Hurricanes GM Peter Anholt, who’s also a part of Team Canada’s World Juniors management group, told Masters.

“He’s going to be the captain of our team in Lethbridge. I think his leadership is second to none. Give him credit for just keeping his nose to the grindstone and just keep working to get better. Good on him to at least have a chance to be at this camp and maybe going forward.”