TSN SportsCentre Reporter Mark Masters reports on the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship. Team Canada defeated Team U Sports 3-2 on Monday at the Avenir Centre in Moncton, N.B. After the game, Hockey Canada released 10 players and set the 22-man roster for the World Juniors.
Team Canada will be able to make the opposition hurt on the scoreboard and in the corners at this year's World Juniors.
"It's a dynamic group," said Hockey Canada management group lead James Boyd. "We're flexible. We got a lot of skill, but we also got some size and strength."
The skill is always there and this year it's amplified by the addition of three National Hockey League players in Seattle Kraken centre Shane Wright, Arizona Coyotes winger Dylan Guenther and Los Angeles Kings right-shot defenceman Brandt Clarke. And then there's the projected top two picks in the next draft in Regina Pats phenom Connor Bedard and fantastic freshman Adam Fantilli from the University of Michigan.
But Canada's bottom six will also pack a punch.
"We got lots of skill, but at the same time we want to have heaviness throughout our lineup," said director of player personnel Alan Millar. "We want to play fast. We want to play hard. We want to compete and put teams on their heels."
"From our experience in August and last December, it's going to make a big difference," said Boyd. "Not only the size, but the fact our players, who are larger players, they can really move. They can close quickly and play within the boundaries. So, it's going to be a group where there's not much room out there."
Seattle Thunderbird Reid Schaefer (6-foot-3, 213 pounds), Kelowna Rocket Colton Dach (6-foot-4, 196 pounds) and Kamloops Blazer Caedan Bankier (6-foot-2, 197 pounds) all earned forward spots at the selection camp this week.
"Those are the players who really cemented their spot," Boyd confirmed.
Meanwhile, 5-foot-9 Halifax Mooseheads forward Jordan Dumais, who leads the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in scoring, was among the five forwards released on Monday. The 18-year-old, who scored a great goal in Sunday's game, will get another chance next year. Ditto for Mississauga Steelheads centre Owen Beck, who stands 6-foot, 185 pounds.
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Bankier is the one player to crack the final roster, who wasn't at the summer World Juniors in Edmonton or summer camp for 2023 hopefuls.
"I wanted to be there," the Minnesota Wild third-round pick in 2021 said. "I saw a lot of my buddies go. I think it helped me in the long run, to be honest. Just used it like motivation and used it as a driving factor for the start of my season and ultimately leading into here."
Bankier has scored 20 goals in 24 games. Only Bedard has scored more goals among those on Team Canada.
"Ironically, the first time we started watching Bankier in the fall it was because of his two-way play and [being a] defensive specialist," Boyd revealed. "All the sudden, he's one of the hottest players in the CHL coming into camp. He's a big guy, who's smart and the coaches can trust. But he showcased his offensive abilities here as well."
Bankier picked up two assists in Monday's game. He also scored a goal in Sunday's game.
Bankier arrived at Canada's camp on a six-game point streak with 12 points overall in that stretch.
"I tried to work this summer on my lower-body strength and my skating. Trying to be more explosive and quick off the rush," the Surrey, B.C., native said. "That would be the one thing I would look at, but I think I've just become an all-around stronger player."
Still, Bankier didn't truly believe the World Junior dream was realistic until last week.
"When I finally saw my name on the selection camp roster, it kind of hit me that if I work hard enough it could work out," he said. "To be standing here talking to you about it, it's pretty awesome."
When Bankier called his parents to tell them the news, his mom started to cry.
"Unreal," he said. "Like, I can't even describe the feeling. You grow up watching the tournament and you want to be a part of it some day and for it to finally happen, It's crazy. It's surreal."
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Dach has only played 14 games this season, which is the fewest among the CHL players to make Team Canada.
"It's just resiliency," he said. "I've had some injuries and never really gone through adversity like that before so I'm pretty proud of myself for staying mentally strong."
Dach sustained two concussions in less than a month at the start of the season. He leaned on his parents and older brother Kirby Dach, a centre with the Montreal Canadiens, for help. Kirby saw his own World Junior dream derailed when he got hurt on the eve of the 2021 bubble event in Edmonton.
"He's been through some injuries. He helped me a lot," Colton said. "He's got a game tonight. I texted him quickly. He just said he's super proud of me."
Kirby was in the NHL when he was named to Canada's World Junior roster. He was a slam dunk to make it. Colton, a second-round pick by Chicago in 2021, needed to prove himself.
"Versatility," he said of the key. "I wanted to show that I can be a power forward, but also have that skill in tight."
Mission accomplished.
"Colton Dach is a predominantly skilled player, you know, with his club team in Kelowna," said Boyd. "He excels on the power play. I thought he was excellent in the power-forward role. We challenged Colton to bring those elements, like he's shown in the Blackhawks camp and at the summer camp, and I thought he did that really well."
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Dach admitted that the wait to hear about the cuts was agonizing.
"Me and my roommate, Reid Schaefer, we were both shaking the whole hour," he said. "And then you hear some knocks on the doors [in the hotel] and Reid came running and said, 'I hear them saying, 'Congrats!' So, we gave each other a big hug and then our door was next."
"That was a time," Schaefer said with a sigh and a smile. "It was a full hour, we were just pacing back and forth in our hotel room, just fingers crossed. Both of us were pretty nervous, but when we were heard the news it was special."
Scahefer has come a long way. He was an eighth-round pick in the 2018 WHL draft. When did he know he could make this team?
"That came when I got the camp invite," the 19-year-old from Edmonton said. "I'm a guy who can be a role player, play in the bottom six and provide energy and use my big frame to my advantage."
Scahefer, the Oilers’ first-round pick (32nd overall) in July, is the heaviest player on Canada's roster and used that to his advantage at camp.
"He showcased his speed and his size and ability to get in on the forecheck," said Boyd, "and a really good stick that can disrupt plays. We want to keep some teams on their toes and he's a player who's able to do that."
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It's rare for Canada to cut returning players, but two guys who won gold in Edmonton were released on Monday.
Acadie-Bathurst's Riley Kidney, who is from Halifax and hoped to wear the Maple Leaf in his hometown, was cut. The Montreal Canadiens prospect sustained an injury in the first period on Sunday and did not finish the game. He took the warmup on Monday, but ultimately couldn't play.
Kidney only dressed in three games in the summer tournament and only took five shifts. So, despite his returning status, he still needed to earn a spot. The injury prevented him from staking a claim.
"Unfortunately sometimes injuries are part of it," said Team Canada head coach Dennis Williams. "He gave it all to try and go out there and try to manage it. I don't know the extent of it, but courageous for him to give that a try."
Winnipeg Ice defenceman Carson Lambos played in both selection-camp games, but simply got beat out by other options.
"Extremely difficult and probably compounded by the fact he had a decent camp," said Boyd of the decision, "but the way we're going to assemble this team and our ideas for how we’re going to flesh out the roster, we just went in a different direction."
Lambos played just one game at the summer tournament.
Canada will still have eight returning players from the summer and 10 with World Junior experience. Wright and Guenther played a couple games last December before the COVID cancellation. That experience will be an essential part of this year's team.
"Experience and experience having success in the program too, which I think is key," said Boyd. "The players that returned from the National Hockey League, it's been nothing but a professional atmosphere and a workmanlike attitude. Not only are they coming back with experience, they're coming back with the right attitude and they're hungry."
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Quebec's William Rousseau and Prince George's Tyler Brennan were the two goalies cut. Canada will go with Sarnia's Ben Gaudreau and Seattle's Thomas Milic, which is the same tandem from the 2021 under-18 World championship in Dallas where Canada won gold.
"It was definitely a difficult decision," said Boyd. "Track record does play into it."
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Team Canada roster for the 2023 World Juniors
Forwards (13)
8 Caedan Bankier
16 Connor Bedard*
17 Colton Dach
14 Zach Dean
19 Adam Fantilli
21 Nathan Gaucher*
11 Dylan Guenther*
20 Zack Ostapchuk*
7 Brennan Othmann*
9 Joshua Roy*
12 Reid Schaefer
10 Logan Stankoven*
15 Shane Wright*
Defence (7)
2 Nolan Allen
5 Brandt Clarke
24 Ethan Del Mastro*
4 Tyson Hinds
25 Kevin Korchinski
27 Jack Matier
3 Olen Zellweger*
Goalies (2)
29 Ben Gaudreau
1 Thomas Milic
*Previous World Junior experience
Team Canada cuts at the selection camp:
Forwards (5)
Owen Beck
Zachary Bolduc
Jordan Dumais
Ryan Greene
Riley Kidney
Defence (3)
Evan Nause
Carson Lambos
Ethan Samson
Goalies (2)
Tyler Brennan
William Rousseau
