Rogers will get to roar for Glass after all
Passed over by Canucks at the draft, Portland pivot should star for Canada at world juniors
COLWOOD — It looks like Cody Glass will get that chance to be a Rogers Arena fan favourite.
Team Canada opened its world junior camp tryout camp here on Tuesday morning at the Q Centre and Glass, the 19-year-old Portland Winterhawks pivot, certainly appears to be one of the better bets for the 23-man final roster among the 34 players invited to audition.
The Winnipeg native’s linemates for the Tuesday morning practice session included Maxime Comtois, one of two returnees from the Team Canada entry that won gold in Buffalo last January. Glass was one of the final cuts from that team, and he’s off to a banner start to the WHL campaign, with 54 points, including 12 goals, in a mere 26 games with Portland.
Those numbers become all the more impressive when you realize that Glass is a guy who takes pride in his defensive game as well.
This Team Canada begins this world juniors on Boxing Day at Rogers Arena, taking on Denmark.
Two summers ago, there were plenty of Vancouver Canucks fans pulling for Glass to make Rogers Arena a permanent base, figuring he would be a perfect fit for their team when it picked fifth overall in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.
Canucks brass went a different, somewhat unexpected route, taking Swedish teenager Elias Pettersson. Glass went one pick later to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Suffice to say, Canuck Nation is just fine with how things have gone with that decision so far. Glass, too, admits he’s taking some good-natured ribbing from his buddies about Pettersson’s early success.
That’s yet another statement of how good Pettersson has been. One of the best young players in this country gets his chops busted here and there because of him.
“You try not to pay attention, but you get messaged and stuff like that,” Glass said. “Obviously the guy is an unbelievable player. We all knew that he was going to be good, too.
“He’s in Vancouver. I’m with Vegas. We’re on two different paths. I’m looking forward to my path in Vegas.”
Don’t feel too bad about Glass taking some heat from his friends, though. There’s evidence he can dish it out as well it seems.
The Winterhawks are just a slapshot or two away from these parts to start this week, playing a two-game set against the host Victoria Royals at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre. Those teams opened up proceedings on Tuesday.
“I had a little bit of bragging rights there,” Glass, a six-foottwo, 185-pound right-handed shooter, said in regards to his Portland teammates. “I took the airplane over while they had to take the bus and the ferry. I chirped them a little bit about that.
“It’s a little different. I can see the hotel they are staying at from across the water. But they’re all very happy for me, obviously.”
Pettersson is too old for world juniors, having turned 20 on Nov. 12. Glass had visions of sticking with the Golden Knights for this season, but was reassigned to Portland in late September.
“It’s frustrating to get sent back, but they thought I did really well,” said Glass, who had 102 points, including 37 goals, in 64 regular season games with Portland last season. “Another year of growing, maturing, getting stronger always helps. You look at a guy like Mathew Barzal, who played his 19-year-old season back in the WHL (with Seattle) and ended up tearing up the NHL at 20.
“That extra year could help you a lot. That’s the biggest thing. You always have to take it one year at a time. You get sent back, you don’t have to time whine and cry about it. You just have to play hard.”
In regards to sticking with this team, Glass says that Hockey Canada “knows my style of game and they want me to play that game.” Mike Johnston, the former Canucks assistant coach, is the bench boss with the Winterhawks and says that Glass has improved his strength and quickness over the past two years.
“For me, I think he’s the best player in the WHL this year,” Johnston explained.