Moose Jaw Warriors general manager Alan Millar will be a bit busier this summer after he received some big news from Hockey Canada on Thursday.

Millar was named to the Program of Excellence's management group and will be a part of the Under-18 team heading into this summer's Hlinka Gretzky Cup, which will be hosted in Canada for the first time.

"I'm really excited, I've been involved in different capacities, Under-17 and on the GM committee in helping out Under-18, Under-20 camp invites and Canada-Russia Series, even back to my time in the OHL and since Hockey Canada established the management team, it was always something that I'd be excited to be involved in," said Millar on Thursday after the announcement.

"It's always an honour to be involved in our national programs. The fact that Hlinka Gretzky, it's traditionally been played in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, this is the first time that it's in Canada, that adds to the excitement."

Millar has been with the Warriors organization since 2010 when he was hired as the director of hockey operations. He was promoted to general manager in 2012.

This past season saw Millar earn the Eastern Conference nomination for WHL Executive of the Year as the Warriors posted a franchise-best record of 52-15-2-3, winning the East Division title and the Scott Munroe Memorial Trophy as regular season champions.

Millar will lend his expertise in helping to advise the under-18 program from the selection of players to the hiring of the coaching staff.

"There's been evaluation for these kids for the last couple of years, a lot of these kids played in the Under-17s in November; Brad McEwen is Hockey Canada's head scout, he's been following the players all year and we've already reviewed depth charts and the players that are candidates for the camp in Calgary in late-July," said Millar.

"Brad will lead that area and he'll really determine the 40 kids that will come to the camp and from there, we'll all work together in putting the roster together."

With this being the first time that the renamed Hlinka Gretzky Cup will be played in Canada, Millar said that does add pressure.

"Our game is about pressure and pressure is really based on the person and how much you put on yourself, but anytime that you're going into a world championship with Canada, there's always the expectations that you're going to win gold and Canada has had tremendous success at this tournament in the last number of years," said Millar.

"This group of players are the top players for the 2019 NHL Draft and it looks like it's going to be a real solid group of players, even when you look in the West here, lots of good, young defencemen."

While Millar's focus will be on capturing a gold medal with Canada, he feels this experience will also help him in his role with the Warriors moving forward.

"Anytime our people are involved at an elite level competition, whether its our players going through U17, U18, U20; Tim Hunter as part of the World Junior coaching staff; myself getting this opportunity, you work with different people and see what Hockey Canada does in terms of building teams," said Millar. "You get to know the players and get a lot of scouting done on European teams."

Millar added that they expect to have their coaching staff in place over the next week and they turn their focus to the camp in July. The tournament will run Aug. 6-11 in Edmonton.