ST. CATHARINES, Ont. — It’s the part of his job that Team Canada head coach Dominique Ducharme doesn’t like.

After all, no one wants to be the one to crush a player’s dream, especially right before Christmas. But, with nearly three dozen players invited to selection camp, it was inevitable that several players would go home earlier than they wanted.

“It’s always hard,” Ducharme said. “We have the 33 best junior players in Canada. They’re all good players, but it’s about evaluating who can take that step and play with an edge against the best players.”

On Thursday, a few hours after playing a selection camp game against the U Sports all-stars, six players were cut: forwards Jonathan Ang (Florida Panthers fourth-rounder), Cody Glass (Vegas Golden Knights first-rounder) and Kole Lind (Vancouver Canucks second-rounder), defencemen Dennis Cholowski (Detroit Red Wings first-rounder) and Logan Stanley (Winnipeg Jets first-rounder), as well as undrafted goalie Samuel Harvey.

It was an emotional night for the teenaged players, many of whom were surprised that their world junior experience had ended before it had really begun.

The biggest shock was perhaps Glass, a Winnipeg native selected sixth overall in this past summer’s draft. Despite scoring 20 goals and 48 points in 30 games with the Portland Winterhawks, the 18-year-old blamed a lack of edge for not making the team.

“Obviously, it’s hard at first and you don’t always like getting cut from a team, but it’s how you roll with it,” said Glass, a centre eligible to play for next year’s team. “I know Sam Steel was in the same position last year and he ended up winning CHL Player of the Year. So, I’m not too worried.

“Obviously, there’s a lot of talent and I’m lucky enough to be invited. I’m just going to have a good second-half to the year.”

While Glass is eligible to return for the 2019 tournament, this was the final opportunity for Ang, Cholowski, Harvey, Lind and Stanley to play in the world juniors.

“It’s obviously heartbreaking for me, for sure,” Lind said, “but it’s something that’s out of my control. I did what I could and I played pretty well and I think there’s some things that I can take away from this, both in good and bad. This is just a learning experience for me.”

“Well, you know, it sucks. Everybody wants to make the team,” Cholowski added. “I played my game and did the best I could, but I fell a little short.”

A final round of cuts is expected after Friday’s exhibition game against Denmark, with the 27-man team expected to get down to a 22-man roster by Dec. 25.

The tournament begins in Buffalo on Boxing Day, with Canada playing against Finland.

HAPPY WITH COMPETITION

Kale Clague had a goal and an assist, but Team Canada lost 4-3 to U Sports on Thursday. It was the second straight loss to the university all-star team, which shutout Canada 3-0 on Wednesday.

According to Ducharme, the pair or tight losses were better than a couple of blowout wins.

“We’re happy with the opposition we got,” Canada’s bench boss said. “That’s exactly what we wanted to create to see our guys facing adversity. It’s perfect for our evaluation.

“That’s something that we worked with U Sports to make sure they’re coming with the best team possible. They’re 23, 24, 25 (years old), so obviously when you get into a battle they’re physically more mature. That’s the kind of adversity that we wanted to see.

“It’s pretty hard to evaluate when you have 7-1, 8-1 games. We wanted tight games, so that was perfect.”

Projected No. 1 goalie and Philadelphia Flyers prospect Carter Hart, who had a shutout while playing for U Sports in Wednesday’s game, allowed two goals on nine shots for Canada on Thursday.

St. Louis Blues first-rounder Robert Thomas and Alex Formenton, an Ottawa Senators pick, also scored for Canada.

CLAGUE AND WHO?

Clague’s goal on Thursday came on the power play, with the defenceman firing a point shot through traffic that found the top corner. It was a familiar goal for the L.A. Kings prospect, who will likely play an offensive role for Team Canada.

As for who might join him on the point on the power play, Ducharme wouldn’t tip his hand.

“It depends on the decisions that we are going to be making right,” he said. “There’s multiple things that we can do and set ups and it all depends on who’s on the team. We could be having one unit with one defenceman and one unit with two defencemen. It depends.”

DANTE PROUD OF BUDS

Losing last year’s championship game in an overtime shootout to the Americans was made more difficult for Dante Fabbro when the Team Canada defenceman returned to Boston University afterwards and had to watch as the school honoured five of his teammates in a pre-game ceremony.

But Fabbro, a Nashville Predators pick, said he was also proud in how Team USA forward Clayton Keller and defenceman Charlie McAvoy — who were both named to last year’s all-star team — used the tournament as a springboard for NHL success.

“When he made that jump to playoffs, obviously everyone was really proud of him,” Fabbro said of McAvoy, who has 15 points in 28 games for the Bruins this season. “He’s done an unbelievable job so far. I think the sky’s the limit for that guy. It just goes to show that different leagues can develop you differently. Charlie went to college and he’s made the jump and been great.”

• Email: mtraikos@postmedia.com | Twitter: @michael_traikos