Phillips works at both ends to be ready for Russians
Matthew Phillips remembers how his dad used to watch his hockey games as a kid: “He never cheered if I scored a goal, but he did if I tracked someone down to take away the puck.”
Five-foot-six Phillips knows he has to constantly fight the false impression he is purely an offensive player and primarily a waterbug quick threat around the offensive crease. “I pride myself on not being one-dimensional,” he said.
Victoria hockey fans who have watched the Calgary Flames prospect know Phillips can play on both sides of the puck, as attested by his uncanny penaltykilling ability this season. But the Royals forward must prove that to the Hockey Canada selectors who will decide the make-up of Canada’s team for the 2018 world junior championship, which begins on Boxing Day in Buffalo, New York.
A big part of the Canadian selection process is the CIBC Super Series, in which all-star teams from the Western Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Major-Junior Hockey League play the touring Russian junior team.
Rare is the player who makes a Canadian national hockey team in any age group without being a two-way performer. Phillips knows he has to make an impression as an all-rounder when Team WHL starts off the CIBC Super Series against the Russians with games Monday in Moose Jaw, Sask., and Tuesday in Swift Current, Sask.
The Royals star said it’s a matter of going out against the Russians, and playing his game and doing what he always does at both ends of the rink.
Joining Phillips on Team WHL are three of the Kelowna Rockets players the Royals faced this weekend in WHL games at Saveon-Foods Memorial Centre – firstround Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick Cal Foote, second-round Vancouver Canucks selection Kole Lind and Calgary Flames secondrounder Dillon Dube.
That trio of Rockets took over the game in Kelowna’s 4-2 victory over the Royals on Friday night.
Forward Dube, a member of the Canadian team that won silver behind the victorious Americans at the 2017 world junior championship, will captain the WHL team. Blueliners Kale Clague of the Brandon Wheat Kings and Jake Bean of the Calgary Hitmen, also members of the 2017 silvermedallist Canadian team, and forward Brett Howden of the Moose Jaw Warriors were named WHL assistant captains.
The CIBC Series continues Thursday in Owen Sound, Ont., and Nov. 13 in Sudbury, Ont., with the Russian juniors playing Team OHL. The series concludes on Nov. 14 in Charlottetown, PEI, and Nov. 16 in Moncton, N.B., with the Russians meeting Team QMJHL.
All the games will be broadcast on Sportsnet. “It’s a critical evaluation opportunity for us,” Hockey Canada head scout Brad McEwen said in a statement.
“It’s the one time since summer camp that we get a chance to put the kids in their regions and look at different combinations and be able to mix and match a little bit.
“It offers us a chance to give the guys a refresher on expectations should they hope to be with us come Christmas time.”
Phillips knows exactly what those expectations are, and that’s a challenge he is taking to heart this week against the Russians, in his some-might-consider unlikely bid to make the Canadian junior team.