Spending two weeks confined to a Red Deer hotel room isn't exactly on most Hockey Canada kids' list of dreams they want to accomplish, but that's the situation 46 players are in right now.

The World Junior Selection Camp is on the back half of a 14-day isolation period due to positive tests within some of the players, but the light at the end of the tunnel is the World Junior Hockey Championships.

“We still have 46 players here, we didn’t have the opportunity to do player releases before we were put in isolation,” said Moose Jaw Warriors general manager and Team Canada U20 Program of Excellence head Alan Millar explained from Red Deer. “We still have a large group here, and we’ve got great staff around us that are very supportive and helping us out with laundry and entertainment and those types of things. Right now it’s a bit of a challenge as we work through isolation.”

One of those players at the camp is Warriors' defenceman Daemon Hunt. 

Millar said the great thing about the group of players and staff is that they were disappointed about being shut down for 14 days, but it ‘turned on a dime’, and food, social and entertainment committees were formed among the team to take care of some of the needs the team has had.

As they wait for the potential go-ahead next week to get the athletes on the ice again, Millar said the Red Deer fitness community came through with over 69 bikes – one for each of the team’s members.

“We’re doing Zoom yoga classes, we’re doing Zoom spin classes,” Millar said. “We’re having guest speakers at night. We’ve had some of Canada’s best entertainers, comedians, sports celebrities perform and send messages to our group at night.”

The coaches lead the hockey talk through afternoon Zoom meetings and share videos and stories.

“The guys have been great and it’s kept everybody engaged,” Millar said. “Hockey Canada has done an unbelievable job on food... I think everyone has rallied here to make this as best of what this 14-days looks like.”

Despite the challenges of having a selection camp smack in the middle of a province with over 1,000 new cases of COVID a day, Millar said the World Juniors are still going ahead.

“This has been a long, ongoing relationship between Hockey Canada, the IIHF and Alberta Health to put this tournament on,” said Millar. “And where our group is at right now, everything’s a go, we’re excited and moving forward.”