Rookie takes Giant strides after Hockey Canada snub
Ostapchuk given second-line minutes, opportunities on the penalty-kill unit
Zack Ostapchuk didn’t get picked by Hockey Canada for the World Under-17 Challenge. The rookie forward’s game with the Vancouver Giants has noticeably improved since.
Feel free to judge for yourself if those two items are connected or not. Before you do that, though, we’d like to offer into evidence Ostapchuk’s feelings on not being one of the 66 players from across the country — including 14 from rival WHL teams — chosen to play for one of the three Canadian entries in the all-star tournament, which runs Nov. 2-9 in Medicine Hat, Alta., and Swift Current, Sask.
“Once I got back to the (Giants’) locker-room and got talking to all the guys, it made me realize that it’s not the end of the world,” said Ostapchuk, who was the No. 12 choice by Vancouver from that 2003-born class that made up the 2018 WHL bantam draft. “I get to come back to the rink every day and prove them wrong.”
Ostapchuk can have a chip on his shoulder, it would seem. It would also appear that the winger knows how to use it to his advantage, which is the most important thing in all this.
He’s steadily gaining the trust of Vancouver coach Michael
Dyck, who has been giving Ostapchuk second-line minutes at even strength alongside Cole Shepard and Lukas Svejkovsky in recent matchups. Ostapchuk has also been getting a crack at penalty killing, which is another compliment from Dyck.
“I’m just starting to get a little more comfortable in the league,” said Ostapchuk, 16, a six-foot-two, 174-pound left-handed shot from St. Albert, Alta. “I’m starting to figure out what works. I’m definitely getting more confident as the games go on.
“I need to realize that I have time with the puck, and I need to use my teammates to my advantage. I need to move the puck and move my feet and get to open ice and I’ll be good.”
Ostapchuk had 24 goals and 45 points in 30 regular-season games with his Edmonton-based Northern Alberta Xtreme academy bantam team in his 2017-18 bantam draft campaign. Last season, Ostapchuk helped Northern Alberta claim the Canadian Sport School Hockey League crown, highlighted by an 11-1 win over OHA Edmonton in the championship game in Penticton in March.
Ostapchuk had 13 goals and 28 points in 31 regular-season games and then three goals and eight points in five playoff encounters.
He got a taste of action with Vancouver with six regular-season games and two playoff contests as an underage call-up.
Ostapchuk has the skating ability to keep pace at the WHL level, and he’s shown a willingness to play in high-traffic areas.
He has one goal and one assist so far, but has played better than those numbers.
He’s been one of the bright spots in Vancouver’s uneven 7-8-1-0 start to the campaign.
“Zack’s been playing terrific. I’ve been impressed with his progress,” said general manager Barclay Parneta.
“He’s showing that he can play with older, stronger kids and provide some offence for us. His speed really helps him. Zack’s skating blends well with our league and gives him a chance to do things that maybe other 16-year-olds cannot.”
Vancouver fans are accustomed to 16-year-old rookies doing things beyond their years. Defenceman Bowen Byram was one of the Giants’ best players two seasons ago in his freshman campaign, while winger Justin Sourdif was on Vancouver’s first line for much of last season and his 23 goals was the third-best total for a 16-year-old in franchise history, behind the 25 that Gilbert Brule tallied in 200304 and the 24 put forth by Evander Kane in 2008-09.
“I don’t think what Byram and Sourdif did puts pressure on someone like Zack,” said Parneta. “I don’t think the kids look at being picked in the first round as pressure on themselves. They know who the kids are and where they were drafted. I don’t think they come in saying, ‘I have to live up to that.’ If we’re doing our job, they aren’t thinking about that at all. We just want them to develop and it’s our job to bring that out of them.”
For his part, Ostapchuk says the Giants need to “come together and embrace our roles,” to climb back up in the standings.
BYRAM EARNS AN ‘A’
Vancouver Giants defenceman Bowen Byram will be an alternate captain for Team WHL for the CIBC Canada Russia Series, the league announced Wednesday. Spokane Chiefs defenceman Ty Smith will be captain, while Lethbridge Hurricanes forward Dylan Cozens and Kelowna Rockets forward Nolan Foote will join Byram in wearing A’s. Team WHL will play a Russian squad Nov. 13 in Saskatoon and Nov. 14 in Prince Albert as part of Hockey Canada’s preparations to name a world junior team tryout roster.