Horgan takes a shot before Team Canada camp
Winterhawks’ captain focused on Team Canada, while his teammates battle the Royals
Premier John Horgan takes a shot on net against Celly the junior hockey mascot before Team Canada hopefuls practise during selection camp at The Q Centre in Colwood on Tuesday. The event was to celebrate the Road to the World Juniors school tour. B.C. Hockey, with support of the B.C. government, went on a 40-stop tour, visiting schools across B.C. to demonstrate floorball and to promote active living. > Cleve Dheensaw at selection camp for world junior championship, Dec. 26 to Jan. 5 in Victoria and Vancouver,
Cody Glass quipped about his “bragging rights” this week on the Island.
“I got to fly in on an airplane while my [Portland Winterhawks] teammates had to take the bus and ferry,” he said, with a good-natured chuckle.
That’s because Winterhawks captain Glass in now under the auspices of Hockey Canada at the junior national team selection camp taking place at The Q Centre. His Winterhawks mates, meanwhile, are here to take on the Victoria Royals sans Glass in Western Hockey League games Tuesday and tonight.
“Our hotels look at each other across the water [Inner Harbour],” said Glass, about the unusual situation.
“This [Canada] is my new team now.”
There is a time for club, and for the chosen few, there is a time for country. It’s the latter for Glass until the 2019 IIHF world junior championship concludes Jan. 5.
“My Winterhawks teammates are happy for me,” he said.
A set-up man supreme, Glass has 12 goals and 42 assists for 54 points in just 26 games this season for Portland after recording 102 and 94 points, respectively, the previous two seasons.
The Canadian selection camp will cut the 34 invitees down to 22 who will make the team for the 2019 world juniors, which opens Boxing Day at the Memorial Centre in Victoria and Rogers Arena in Vancouver. There hardly seems a plausible scenario in which Glass doesn’t make the Canadian team roster. But he is taking nothing for granted.
“I am just taking it one day at a time in camp and staying in the now and focusing on the next shift and playing hard,” he said.
The old adage is that all players on a national team are stars with their clubs, and so some players will have to adjust their roles from what they are used to with their club teams. There can only be one first line and there is a lot of gilt-edged forward talent in this Canadian selection camp.
“Third or fourth lines . . . it doesn’t matter to me,” said Glass.
“I’m here to help win the gold medal.”
Meanwhile, the speculation was the Vancouver Canucks were considering several options, including Glass, with their fifth overall selection in the 2017 NHL draft. They now-famously opted for Elias Pettersson out of Sweden, who is having a spectacular rookie season with the Canucks, while Glass went sixth overall to the Las Vegas Golden Knights.
“There was a lot of talk about that during the draft, but I am happy where I ended up [with Las Vegas],” said Glass.
Glass was asked by the media if his Winterhawks teammates chide him about Pettersson’s stunning start to his NHL career.
“A little bit,” replied Glass, with a smile.
“[Pettersson] is an unbelievable player.”
And Glass is back in junior. But there is no one route that fits all on the road to the big league. In a much-used analogy from another sport, this is a marathon not a sprint.
“I’m focusing on my path to Las Vegas,” said the Manitoba native.
“I’m not whining and crying about it. I’m taking it one year at a time. You just do what you have to do.”
A trip to the top of the world junior podium in Canadian colours Jan. 5 at Rogers Arena would certainly be the golden lining of being sent back to junior.
Glass is among only seven WHL players invited to the Canadian selection camp in Colwood, which is the lowest among the three CHL leagues. The Ontario Hockey League leads the way with 14 players in camp, with eight from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, seven from the WHL and four from the NCAA.
Among the WHL contingent is Glass’ U.S. Division rival Ty Smith, a defenceman from the Spokane Chiefs. Glass chuckled he feels he has bragging rights even there: “We beat Spokane 8-2 in our last meeting and I dangled [Smith] for a goal, so I’m giving him a hard time about that.”