World junior notebook.
UFA, Russia – There have been other rewards handed out to game-day heroes in the past.
Pucks? That’s long been a standard. Hard hats? That, too, has been done before.
So when Steve Spott and his Team Canada coaching staff set out to find a prize befitting their heroes during the World Junior Hockey Championship, they settled on a black satiny cape embellished with the words “The Reason” and a Team Canada logo.
Captain Ryan NugentHopkins was the first player to wear it after his five-point performance in Wednesday’s 9-3 win over Germany. He later signed it, added the date, and hung it in his stall. It will be passed on to the hero of Friday’s game against Slovakia.
“I’ve seen the Jordan Eberle goal as often as anybody. I’ve seen the Jonathan Toews shootouts. You need heroic plays at events like this,” Spott said.
“You don’t know when it’s going to come, but we thought this might be fitting for after the game.
“This is something we think is unique and it embarrasses them a little bit when they come out and face you guys.
“It’s extra motivation,” he continued. “They need to laugh. These are teenage kids and we forget that sometimes, (but) you need someone to be a hero or make a heroic play or lead our hockey club and not just on offence. It could be a blocked shot, a save, but I thought this was fitting. He had a great game.”
Nugent-Hopkins’ last fivepoint game was against the Chicago Blackhawks when the Edmonton Oilers centre picked up five assists in a 9-2 win on Nov. 19, 2011.