London Free Press

Scott Harrington and Seth Griffith are heading to Germany.

The London Knights teammates were named to the Canadian team that will take part in the world under-18 hockey championship April 14-24 in Dresden and Crimmitschau.

“I was hoping I’d get the call,” Harrington said. “It’s a huge honour to represent Canada.”

The Canadian roster consists of players born in 1993 or later whose teams have been eliminated from the playoffs. Both Knights are also eligible for the 2011 NHL draft in June.

Griffith scored 22 goals and 62 points in 68 games in his first full OHL season. The 18-year-old from Wallaceburg had three goals and seven points in six playoff games against Owen Sound.

Harrington endured a slow start to his second Knights campaign, but ended with six goals and 22 points. His plus-minus dipped from plus-25 in his rookie year to minus-14 this season, but he had a lot of extra responsibility.

“I thought the year went fairly well,” he said. “The team traded away a lot of older guys, but for a young team we still had a pretty good playoff run.

“I thought I was sound defensively, especially playing against top lines every night, 19- and 20-year-olds. It was a challenge.”

Harrington is no stranger to international assignments. He was part of a Canadian team that won gold at the Ivan Hlinka tournament last August in the Czech Republic and competed for Ontario in the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge last year in Timmins.

In Germany, the Canadians will play in a pool with Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Czechs.

There are 14 OHLers on the Canadian team, including Sarnia Sting forward Brett Ritchie.