Mahura happy to be back with juniors

One of Josh Mahura’s top priorities after Canada’s junior team wrapped up practice Thursday was to find a laundromat.

The Regina Pats defenceman was cut from the world junior championship roster on Friday and returned to Saskatchewan, but was then recalled to Canada’s team base in southern Ontario on Sunday to sub in for the injured Dante Fabbro.

Zipping back and forth across Canada meant Mahura didn’t even get a chance to unpack, let alone do laundry.

“I got back into Regina and played that night and then after the game my head coach and GM told me they wanted me to come back up,” said Mahura after Canada’s 9-0 rout of the Czech Republic on Wednesday. “Then I spoke with (Hockey Canada executives) Shawn Bullock and Joel Bouchard and they explained the situation to me and I was obviously pretty happy to come back.”

The 19-year-old Mahura was drafted in the third round of the 2016 NHL draft by the Anaheim Ducks. With 11 goals and 18 assists in 28 games this season for the Western Hockey League’s Pats, Anaheim was attracted to his ability with the puck. But his team-best plus15 rating in that span shows how capable he is defensively.

His well-rounded skillset is what earned him an invite to Canada’s selection camp, but defence is the hardest position to crack on Canada’s junior team. Fabbro, Jake Bean and Cale Klague returned from last year’s silver-medal squad and the Montreal Canadiens loaned Victor Mete out for the tournament.

But Fabbro’s ongoing issues with a lower-body contusion has kept him out of the lineup