After what can only be described as a disappointing 2016-17 National Hockey League season, Tyson Barrie is looking forward to donning the Maple Leaf for Team Canada at the upcoming IIHF World Hockey Championship in France and Germany.
Barrie, of Langford, will be attending his second world championship along with three other members of the Colorado Avalanche. They experienced a horrendous year, finishing dead last in the NHL with a 22-56-4 record for 48 points, 21 points behind the second-worst Vancouver Canucks.
“It’ll be fun,” said Barrie, who won a world championship two years ago when it was in Prague. “I was hoping to be contacted, so when they did I was happy to say yes and go. It’s a great experience once you get over there and you meet a lot of good guys, too, so I’m really looking forward to it.”
The Juan de Fuca Minor Hockey product will attend with Avalanche teammates, forwards Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon, and goalie Calvin Pickard.
“It was definitely a frustrating year,” Barrie said of the season in Denver. “We expected a lot more out of our group and I think a lot of guys expected more out of themselves, personally. It was disappointing for me and the team. We’re looking forward to having a good summer and getting back at it and put this one behind us.
“I’m feeling good and excited to go over to Paris and play some good hockey and get some positives out of the year.”
Canada’s side of tournament takes place in France, with the medal games in Cologne, Germany, where Barrie’s dad, Len, played a few seasons.
“I made a trip to Cologne to watch him play. I don’t remember it. That’s what my mom tells me, anyway,” Barrie, now 25, said with a chuckle.
His and the Avalanche season was hardly anything to laugh about, however, as they started .500 for the first 20 games and spiraled out of control.
Personally, Barrie finished with seven goals and 31 assists in 74 games played, down from 13 goals and 36 helpers in 78 games the year previous. His best season came in 2014-15 in which he had 12 goals and 41 assists in 80 games in Denver.
“They were down and I think everyone’s were,” he said of the stats. “As a top guy on the team you always want to lead the team and produce as best you can, so it was disappointing taking a step back. I’m looking forward to putting it behind me and taking the next step for next year and get back to where I was.”
His ice time did go up, but his plus-minus was minus-34, by far the worst of six seasons for the offensive defenceman, who played his junior hockey for the Victoria Grizzlies of the B.C. Hockey League and Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League.
“The ice went up, which is always nice. You want to take on the challenge. We were missing Erik Johnson for most the better half of the year so I got to play a lot of minutes against the top guys in the league,” said Barrie.
“It’s a good challenge. There are great players in this league and it’s a challenge to try and shut them down every night.”
Barrie just recently returned to Denver from vacation in Arizona to prepare for worlds, which begin play with Canada facing Czech Republic on May 5 after a pre-tournament date May 2 against Switzerland in Geneva. The semifinals in Cologne go May 20 and medal games follow the next day.
Barrie will then return to Denver before heading to Victoria for July and August.
mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com
Twitter.com/tc_vicsports
