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Royals blue-liner Joe Hicketts, Canada bring home bronze

It wasn’t the medal he wanted, but Victoria Royals defenceman Joe Hicketts returned from the World Under-18 Hockey Championship in Finland with a bronze medal after Canada defeated Sweden 3-1 on Sunday.

It wasn’t the medal he wanted, but Victoria Royals defenceman Joe Hicketts returned from the World Under-18 Hockey Championship in Finland with a bronze medal after Canada defeated Sweden 3-1 on Sunday.

It came a day after a disappointing 4-3 overtime loss to the Czech Republic in the semifinals, a game in which Hicketts provided a goal as Canada battled back from a 3-0 deficit, only to fall just short in an extra session.

“It was an exciting time, definitely not the medal we were hoping for. Obviously, gold being what we wanted,” said Hicketts, who returned to Victoria on Monday, travelling from Helsinki to Frankfurt to Vancouver, then on to the Island. “But any time you can win a medal with Hockey Canada and represent the country in that fashion is something special.

“Bringing back a bronze is definitely something we’ll have memories of. We wanted to make sure we won that last game because we knew it was going to be a long flight home. Being in good spirits for that flight is what we wanted to do.”

The soon-to-be 18-year-old also had an assist on Lawson Crouse’s winning goal midway through the second period in the bronze-medal win. Hicketts, who joined the team after the Royals were eliminated from the Western Hockey League playoffs by the Portland Winterhawks, finished with two helpers on Sunday.

“I thought I played well. I was thrown right into the fire, landing there Wednesday night and playing Thursday. It was a little quick in getting adjusted, but I found that I got my footing underneath me as the tournament went on,” he said.

It was also a chance to play more hockey in front of National Hockey League scouts and executive.

“Every time you looked up, they were there,” he said. “There were four or five general managers there, as well. Three of them were on our last flight. It was another chance to perform. Personally, with me being out for three months with an injury, it gave me another opportunity to show them what I have.”

It was the third medal that Hicketts has won while wearing the Maple Leaf, adding to a bronze from the 2012 Youth Olympic Games and gold from the 2013 Ivan Hlinka tournament.

Hicketts now looks ahead to this summer’s NHL entry draft. After suffering through an injury-plagued season, the Royals’ stalwart defenceman was not among the rated players on the final NHL Central Scouting List, but may still be selected.

The Kamloops native was one of four B.C.-born players on Team Canada, joining forwards Mathew Barzal of the Seattle Thunderbirds (Coquitlam), Jake Virtanen of the Calgary Hitmen (Abbotsford) and Ryan Gropp of the Thunderbirds (also of Kamloops) on the team.

The U.S. went on to defeat the Czechs 5-2 in the U-18 championship game.

“The sting from [Saturday’s loss] is not something we hid from or pretend didn’t happen,” Canadian coach Kevin Dineen told reporters after Sunday’s win. “We accepted it and moved on. I think we take satisfaction that we worked hard and that things worked out today.

“We were not going to miss an opportunity to represent our country well,” he added. “The unity that this group has shown to come together in this short little time-frame, I think there was a lot of encouragement within our group and a lot of very quick chemistry that made [Saturday] very disappointing. But even so, I think we got great satisfaction from today’s win.”

Canada had won the event the year previous.

mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com