Lazar cherishes golden memories of junior title
Flames forward integral part of Canadian team that knocked off Russians in 2015
He once captained the home team to a championship celebration at Air Canada Centre.
And to this day, even when sporting the sweater of a sworn enemy, Calgary Flames forward Curtis Lazar insists he still hears some cheers mixed with all those jeers in Toronto, an appreciation of his role as both an offensive go-to guy and lead letter-wearer for Team Canada’s golden group at the 2015 IIIF World Junior Championship.
“You can’t beat that feeling — having a sold-out Air Canada Centre in the finals and you’re playing against the Russians.... That’s a game I’ll never forget,” Lazar said. “Every time I’m on that ice and I’m lining up for a faceoff, you reflect on it. Not too much, because I’m playing against the Leafs and you focus on the task at hand, but I’m never going to forget that tournament.
“I still tell myself, every time I go back to Toronto, I still get a little bit of a cheer. That was always fun, especially when I was with Ottawa, a big rival.
“Obviously, they didn’t forget about it, either.”
The Flames’ two-games-intwo-nights roadie doubles as a trip down memory lane for the 22-year-old forward.
The second stop is Thursday’s visit to Bell Centre in Montreal, where that same edition of Team Canada rolled through its roundrobin slate, outscoring opponents by a 21-4 count in four consecutive wins.
Once the action shifted to Toronto, Lazar and his world junior chums — his roommate and linemate was some kid named Connor McDavid — cranked Denmark in the quarter-finals, while Slovakia proved to be little more than a speed bump in the semis.
The hosts hung on for a 5-4 victory over Russia in the golden showdown.
Lazar, who had also experienced heartbreak the previous year when Team Canada missed the medals with a fourth-place finish in Malmo, Sweden, tied for the tops in the tournament with five goals and totalled nine points.
Despite being on loan from his rookie campaign with the archrival Ottawa Senators, he became a fan favourite in Toronto and Montreal thanks to a contagious smile that he insisted was sometimes a scowl behind the scenes.
“Honestly, more often than not, I was the bad cop,” said Lazar. “You go out and beat teams 8-0 or 5-1 or whatever and you get on such a high. But you can’t lose that step, especially in a tournament like that, because it’s the one-and-done elimination and you can’t have too many mistakes, especially for Canada.
“So my job was to come in at a few intermissions reaming out the guys or a little bit of yelling and screaming, which I don’t like to do. But if it has to be done, I’ll do it. That team was very special. Everyone stepped up. Everyone said their two bits and what was needed, and the fact we were so focused on the common goal and we all wanted it as a group and not individuals, that’s what led us to … pretty much … steamroll everyone.”
The Flames could have as many as a half dozen prospects skating in the latest instalment of the world junior showdown, set for Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Buffalo.
Hockey Canada revealed its list of selection camp invites Wednesday and Kelowna Rockets speedster Dillon Dube should be a lock for the final roster as one of seven eligible returnees from a silver showing last winter.
NCAA Harvard Crimson sophomore Adam Fox should be a no-brainer for defending champion Team USA after the offensive-minded defenceman piled up three assists in the goldmedal game a year ago, while the Flames’ latest blue-line bluechipper — Juuso Valimaki of the WHL’s Tri-City Americans — has already been named captain for Finland.
Linus Lindstrom (Sweden), Adam Ruzicka (Slovakia) and Eetu Tuulola (Finland) have also been shortlisted for world junior duties by their respective national teams.
Now just one game shy of 200 on his NHL resume, Lazar arrived in Toronto with no goals, three assists and nine healthy scratchings so far this season.
There’s no guarantee that world junior standouts will eventually become stars at hockey’s highest level, but he continues to draw on his performances at the annual holiday pressure-cooker.
“I’m never going to feel like I’m someone who is going to give up on myself, and I don’t think the Flames have given up on me, either,” Lazar said. “It’s going to happen down the road that I become an established player and impact the game in many ways, and I’m going to be thankful for that.
“But to keep myself afloat now, it’s the small things, like reflecting on what I was able to do in junior, why I was drafted as high as I was ... stuff like that ... and to just realize that, you know, I am a good hockey player and I can show that.”