KITCHENER, Ont. - It's already been a banner hockey season for a handful of players vying for the Memorial Cup this week.

Five members of the Canadian team that won a fourth straight gold medal at the world junior championship earlier this year are attempting to join a select group who have won both world junior gold and a Memorial Cup in the same season.

They are forward Matt Halischuk and goaltender Steve Mason of the Kitchener Rangers, forward Shawn Matthias and defenceman P.K. Subban of the Belleville Bulls and Gatineau Olympiques winger Claude Giroux.

Three were called up by NHL clubs in the weeks after beating Sweden in overtime Jan. 5 in Pardubice, Czech Republic.

Matthias, from Mississauga, Ont., barely had time to catch his breath after assisting on Halischuk's overtime winner before the Florida Panthers summoned him for a four-game stint in the NHL starting Jan. 18.

He scored his first two NHL...