Joe Hicketts’ improbable journey — from an injury-marred 2013-14 season and being overlooked in June’s NHL draft to signing as a free agent with the Detroit Red Wings this fall — continues into winter.
“I’m very excited,” Hicketts said about becoming the first player in Victoria Royals franchise history to make the Canadian team for the world junior hockey championships.
But this isn’t the culmination of a dream. That will only come with the gold medal in the 2015 worlds, which begin Boxing Day in Montreal and Toronto.
“It has been a dream of mine, and now I’m one step closer,” Hicketts said by phone Saturday, after the Canadian roster was finalized late Friday night.
“I believe we have the roster that will be able to win the gold. We have a big, physical, fast team.”
It’s the kind of national side on which the five-foot-eight Hicketts, an undersized but fluid defenceman, should thrive.
“Our seven defencemen form a highly offensive group,” said Hicketts, who leads the WHL in blueline scoring with 38 points in 31 games.
“A lot of our offence will start with our defence. It is a very mobile, puck-moving group, and that will play right into my style.”
Five of the seven Canadian defencemen are from the WHL, and each fits into that mould of expansive, jump-into-attack blueliner — Hicketts of the Royals, Madison Bowey and Josh Morrissey of the Kelowna Rockets, Dillon Heatherington of the Swift Current Broncos and Shea Theodore of the Seattle Thunderbirds.
There will always be a few slots for lumbering, stay-at-home defencemen types on most teams, but not on this Canadian side.
Of the 22 players named to the Canadian team, 10 are from the WHL.
Victoria Royals head coach Dave Lowry is the Canadian assistant coach, his reward for being named WHL coach of the year in 2013-14 after guiding the Royals to franchise records in wins with 48 and points with 100.
“I got a handshake from Dave [after the final Canadian roster was announced] like everybody else [who made it],” Hicketts said, adding he received congratulatory tweets and texts Saturday from his Victoria teammates. “He can’t treat me as a special player.”
Canada opened pre-tournament exhibition play in Toronto on Friday with a 2-1 loss in overtime to Russia in a game in which Hicketts was a healthy scratch to allow players on the bubble to have a final go. Canada plays Sweden today in Ottawa and closes out the exhibition series Tuesday against Switzerland in Montreal.
It begins for real for Canada on Friday against Slovakia with the other Group A games against Germany next Saturday, Finland on Dec. 29 and the U.S. on Dec. 31, all at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The medal round is Jan. 2-5, with all the Canadian games at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
Canada is after its first gold medal at the world juniors since 2009. Having the 2015 tournament take place in the two greatest hockey markets in the world adds a dimension.
“We have to keep it simple and treat it like we’re playing in any other games,” said Hicketts, an 18-year-old native of Kamloops, who will also be eligible for the 2016 world juniors in Helsinki, Finland.
Hicketts noted Canada needs to turn the pitch and intensity of the situation back on itself.
“I believe the pressure will bring out the best in everyone [on the Canadian team],” Hicketts said.
