Brown wants to best Canada at world juniors
Thomas Chabot’s performance at the world junior tournament last season serves as motivation for Logan Brown.
There’s a gleam in Brown’s eyes when he talks about the possibility of representing his country on the world stage this time around.
The big difference, of course, is that Brown — the Senators’ firstround draft choice (11th overall) in 2016 — is an American, having grown up in St. Louis.
So beating Canada in what promises to be a raucous outdoor game at the Buffalo Bills’ home in Orchard Park on Dec. 29 is at the top of the list?
“Oh yeah, obviously,” he said, smiling widely, while looking at a group of Canadian reporters. “Sorry, guys, I don’t know what to tell you.”
Brown isn’t giving up hope of cracking the Senators lineup out of training camp.
“I feel there are some opportunities here to not give them a choice to send me back to Windsor,” he said, confidently.
But the best option for the organization is to allow the 6-6, 220-pound centre to develop for another year, and possibly dominate in junior following his injurymarred 2016-17 season.
Brown played only 35 regular season games with Windsor last season, scoring 14 goals and adding 26 assists, due to wrist and thumb injuries. He had four assists in seven playoff games as Windsor claimed the Memorial Cup.
The Senators weren’t pleased with his performance at development camp in June, but after a strong rookie camp, Brown has been impressive in the opening days of main training camp.
“This summer, I did a lot of skill work and a lot of skating drills and I was on the ice a lot,” he said. “I feel like I got my hands and my patience and poise back. When I’m making plays, that’s when I have confidence with the puck and when I’m at my best.”
If he doesn’t stick around in Ottawa, he says there is unfinished business for him playing alongside the world’s best juniors. Recovering from injury, he was a late cut from the U.S. squad a year ago.
“I want to try and go there and get a gold medal and if you do that, you have some juice, I guess, to make the NHL,” he said. “There’s definitely a fire in my belly and if I do get the opportunity to represent my country there, I will do whatever it takes to play there. That’s kind of the biggest stage of junior, right? So I want to go in there and play my game and be one of the best players there, like Chabot was last year.”