Columnist image

SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

| Archive

When Sam Steel takes the ice at this year’s World Juniors his brother, Patrick, will be on his mind. Patrick Steel passed away suddenly in his sleep in 2011 at the age of 18. He had been playing Junior A Hockey in Canmore, Alta., at the time.

“He’s always with me,” said Steel, a centre with the Regina Pats. “I’m always thinking about him no matter what the situation. We watched (the World Juniors) growing up so it’s special to be in this situation right now.”

Has Steel thought about what it will be like to wear the Maple Leaf on Boxing Day?

“I’m trying not to think too far ahead right now,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to get too much sleep if I think about that too much. But, yeah, it’s going to be a special moment for me, my family, everybody and I don’t take it for granted. I’ll go out there and give it all I got.”

Steel, a first round pick of the Anaheim Ducks in 2016, was a final cut at last year’s Team Canada selection camp. The native of Sherwood Park, Alta., finished last season with 50 goals and 131 points to lead the CHL in scoring. Yes, he was motivated by the World Junior omission, but that's not what drives him.

"He's totally focused on doing what he can to be better," said Pats head coach John Paddock. "For him to be drafted in the NHL and be a pro and everything he does, part of it is for his brother. He doesn’t talk about it much so that’s just my opinion, but I think that’s helped him to be even more focused on doing the right things with his eating, his training, everything. He brings to the rink a pro preparation.”

What will the World Juniors mean to Steel?

“It means a tremendous amount,” Paddock said. “It will mean everything to him.”

 

At practice on Monday Steel centred a line with OHL scoring leader Jordan Kyrou and Dillon Dube, who is one of three forwards returning from last year’s team. While Canadian head coach Dominique Ducharme expects scoring to be spread across all four lines, the potential for this trio is huge.

“I’ve never played on a stage this big so it will be a little bit new," Steel admitted, "but I played some high-stakes hockey going to the finals in the WHL (last season). It’s not the same kind of stage, but I think playing under pressure is something I’ve gotten more used to.”

Paddock has seen Steel elevate his game at big moments before. During his draft year, Steel wasn’t producing offensively at the level some had anticipated.

“The so-called experts were asking, ‘What’s wrong? He’s not having that good a year. Is his ankle bothering him?’ He had tore that up the year before. But you need top players and we got Cole Sanford (via trade) and Sam’s game picked up points-wise so if he had Sandy all year he’d have more points. Then, seeing him elevate his game in the playoffs in his draft year just showed the kind of player he is. He scores at important times.”

Steel had 16 points in 12 playoff games that spring. He elevated his game once again in last year’s playoffs after Adam Brooks, who had 130 points in the regular season, went down with injury.

“He got double the checking with Brooks being hurt, but he still finished second in playoff scoring,” Paddock noted. “For me, he’s a big-game player.”

Steel had 30 points in 23 playoff games last spring.

This year, Steel has 14 goals and 21 assists through 27 games. The numbers aren’t quite as gaudy as in previous years, but he’s a better player now.

“I think I got stronger,” Steel said. “I win more puck battles. I improved on my face-offs a lot and I just matured as a player doing the little things right.”

"He's more experienced and he understands situations better on the ice," said Paddock. “Our team is different. We don’t have as many weapons (this year) so there’s more attention paid to him. He’s captain of the team now, it’s more his team so sometimes he may actually be trying too hard. Besides his ability, he’s always the hardest worker so he could have a bad game, but you can’t remain upset long about it because he worked."

 

Steel generated chemistry with both his linemates before arriving at Canada’s selection camp last week. He meshed well with Dube during the CIBC series against Russia.

“Dillon's a really skilled player and he competes hard, likes to make plays so that’s the type of player I love to play with,” Steel said.

Meanwhile, Steel and Kyrou found instant chemistry during the Summer Showcase in Plymouth, Michigan.

“Jordan can fly out there, but he has great vision too and if he gets the puck in the right spot he’s burying it,” Steel said.

All three players can fly.

“It’s our speed,” said Dube when asked what stands out about the line. “Even just in practice today, we’re kicking pucks out and flying around guys so it’s great to play with them. Me and Sammy had some chemistry there with Team WHL and we just ran with it and had some fun.”

“Just all three of us, we’re really explosive,” said Kyrou. “Those first couple steps, we can find each other and beat defencemen wide.”

 

When asked about that line, Ducharme shifts the conversation back to the forward group as a whole.

“All four lines have speed, skill and guys who are reliable,” Ducharme stressed. “I see us getting help offensively from all four lines. Every line can play against anyone on the other side.”

And Ducharme plans on giving all of his lines ample opportunity to prove that. There will not be much, if any, tinkering in the days ahead.

“This is what we’ll be using for at least Wednesday’s game and probably on Friday,” said Ducharme referring to pre-tournament tilts against the Czechs and Swiss. “I’m confident those combinations will work and we want to take the time to build chemistry. If we’re changing lines every day it’s hard to build that. One game, sometimes, is not enough. We feel confident with what we had on the ice. It will stay like that for a while.”

Time is always a scarce commodity in a short event like the World Juniors, but even more so this year with Canada having a tricky preliminary round schedule featuring two sets of back to backs.

“Four games in five nights, but our guys are used to that,” said Ducharme. “It’s about getting the proper rest. Rest is a weapon and, at the same time, this week we need to prepare. Once we get to the tournament we won’t be practicing a lot.”

 

Dube took to the ice on Monday wearing a regular red jersey before quickly being told to switch to a non-contact yellow one. He admits that surprised him.

“I’ll be ready to go for Wednesday,” said Dube, who didn't take part in any of the games during the selection camp as he nurses an upper-body injury (suspected shoulder). “It’s just precautionary and you never know what can happen at practice. So, just playing it safe.”

Ducharme wasn’t as certain that the Kelowna Rocket will be in the lineup for Canada’s first pre-tournament game.

“We’ll see,” the coach cautioned. “We just want to make sure when the tournament starts he’s 100 per cent. If he plays it will be because there’s no worries that he’s not 100 per cent. If he’s just at 95 per cent we’ll keep him out on Wednesday.”

Dube didn’t miss any time in the WHL due to injury and isn’t worried about going into the World Juniors with limited game action. The Calgary prospect trained under the watchful eye of Flames strength and conditioning coach Ryan van Asten in the summer and learned from veterans like Matt Stajan and Troy Brouwer.

“I saw how hard they worked and just to keep up with them was hard,” Dube said. “It was nice for me to mix with them and skate with them all summer. I think from June on I was at a pro level the whole time so I think that helped my conditioning and I carried that on through the whole year. With this injury, rest is good, but I don’t think I’ve lost any cardio heading into the games.”

What stood out the most during the summer sessions?

“Just being able to do it every single day,” Dube said. “We were in the gym early and they were long days. It’s tough and you get exhausted. Hopefully you create a job with that (work ethic) for the rest of your life.”

The work paid off as Dube impressed Flames coach Glen Gulutzan in training camp and almost earned a look in the NHL.

“He had a great camp here,” Gulutzan said last month. “The speed, the hockey sense that he had, the ability to play centre and wing so versatility, just a great kid. He was dialled in on the details of the game and the fitness side of the game. I think he’s up on the wall as the top rookie fitness guy and he had a great camp with us. If not for the junior thing and the numbers that we had we might have even kept him longer.”

“He had a great training camp for us,” recalled Johnny Gaudreau. “I thought he was going to stick around for a little, that’s how well he did at training camp. Not sure how he’s doing now, but definitely stood out for management and our team.”

 

Injured defenceman Dante Fabbro watched Monday’s practice from the stands with a walking boot on his left foot. What’s the latest on his status?

“We don’t know,” Ducharme said. “We’ll see what the doctors say. He saw another specialist and we’ll know later.”

Meanwhile, Fabbro's would-be replacement, Josh Mahura, was kept off the ice on Monday.

“He was feeling a bit tired, travelling back and forth, but he should be on the ice with us [on Tuesday],” Ducharme said.

It has been a whirlwind couple of days for the Regina Pats defenceman. On Friday night, he choked back tears after getting cut. One day later, after playing a WHL game, Mahura got a call from Hockey Canada to come back.

"It all happened pretty quick,” Mahura said on Sunday night. “Since leaving and coming back, I haven't really wrapped my head around everything, but obviously really happy to be back.”

Mahura is in a bit of an awkward position. If Fabbro is healthy enough to play in the World Juniors, Mahura will be sent home again.

“He understands the situation,” said Hockey Canada senior manager of hockey operations Shawn Bullock. “We made sure it was very clear to him what the understanding is and the situation he's coming into. But he’ll be exactly like the other players. We'll keep him here as long as we need to."

“He’s a really good friend of mine,” Mahura said of Fabbro, “and it’s a really tough situation for him to be in. You know how badly he wants to play in this. Hopefully he’s ready to go and if he isn’t then I will be.”

 

Lines at Monday’s practice:

Dube-Steel-Kyrou
Katchouk-Thomas-Raddysh
Gadjovich-McLeod-Steenbergen/Batherson
Comtois-Howden-Formenton

Clague-Makar
Bean
Mete-Timmins
Foote

Hart
Point

Absent: Fabbro, Mahura

---

Power play units at Monday’s practice:

Clague/Mete
Steel-Dube-Kyrou
Raddysh

Makar
Thomas-Steenbergen/Batherson-Bean
Katchouk