“You have to move on. For many of us, being part of the team and even getting a match was a dream come true. Obviously, having a gold medal around your neck is the ultimate dream come true there. It’s still out of our control. “. – Justin Sourdif
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Justin Sourdif expected to be playing for a gold medal at the junior world championships on Wednesday. Instead, he will be practicing with the Vancouver Giants.
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The 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship was canceled after just four days due to concerns about COVID-19 and the Omicron variant.
Sourdif, a 19-year-old forward from Surrey who was one of 12 Western Hockey League players and five BC natives with the Canada team, returned to the Giants lineup Sunday afternoon and took the honors. First star after a two-assist effort in a 4-3 overtime victory over the Kelowna Rockets at Langley Events Center.
“You have to move on. For many of us, being part of the team and even getting a match was a dream come true,” said Sourdif. “Obviously, having a gold medal around the neck is the ultimate dream come true there. Still it’s out of our control. “
NEXT GAME
Friday
Vancouver Giants vs. Kelowna Rockets
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7:05 pm, Prospera Place , Radio: Sportsnet 650AM
The Junior World Cup, which opened on Boxing Day, closed last Wednesday, ahead of a Canadian team meeting with Germany that night in Edmonton. One game on Tuesday had been canceled followed by two others early Wednesday due to positive tests for COVID-19.
The 25 players of the Canada team were summoned to a meeting in a banquet room at their hotel that day.
“Then we got the idea that something was up,” recalled Sourdif, who is one of 18 players on the Canadian roster in his final year of tournament eligibility. “We didn’t know if that day’s game was going to be canceled or what. Ultimately, it was the worst possible news. It was a difficult pill to swallow. Some guys took it harder than others.
“I think there were some fans who were as disappointed as we players.”
Sourdif prepared for only one of Canada’s two games in the tournament, and was left out of an 11-2 break over Austria with a one-game suspension for a check to the head in Canada’s 6-3 win. over the Czech Republic in the first game.
Sourdif had played internationally in the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, held in the Czech Republic and Slovakia for the under-18s. He was trying to help the Canadian team to their third world junior gold medal in five years and the 19th of all time.
“I try not to think about it too much,” Sourdif said when asked if he could get caught up in what could have been Wednesday if the junior world championship had continued. “I’m staying positive and focusing on our season right now.”
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Sourdif, a fourth-year Giant who is the team captain this season, joined Vancouver head coach Michael Dyck and fitness trainer Mike Burnstein on the Canadian team, while linemate Fabian Lysell and the starting goalkeeper Jesper Vikman were with the Swedes.
Dyck, an assistant coach for Team Canada for the second consecutive season, was the first to leave the Giants, leaving just before a Dec. 8 visit to the Kamloops Blazers. The others followed in the following days.
Vancouver struggled without its world youth contestants, going 1-9 in Sunday’s meeting with the Rockets.
Needless to say, there was a playoff-like celebration when Zack Ostapchuk brought home a Cole Shepard 30 rebound in overtime.
Vancouver had four of its five world youth crew in tow on Sunday, as Lysell went home to Sweden to spend a couple of weeks with his family.
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“When you start sliding like that you get very fragile,” Dyck said of the team’s recent stage. “A big part is getting that arrogance back.
“I think tonight certainly feels good. I don’t know I would go so far as to say swagger with a game, but you start to feel good and you can focus on the little things to improve. “
Ostapchuk added: “I think we just needed a win. I really do. Light up the dressing room. “
The Giants were created to compete this year. They have three players signed to NHL clubs in Sourdif (Florida Panthers), Lysell (Boston Bruins) and Ostapchuk (Ottawa Senators) and their roster includes nine 19-year-olds.
They were the 10th team in the national rankings on December 8, after winning back-to-back nights over the Blazers and Everett Silvertips. A month later, the Giants (15-16-1-0) are in sixth place in the WHL Western Conference. They are just three points ahead of the Victoria Royals (12-14-4-0) for the eighth and final playoff spot, and the Royals have two games in hand.
The WHL trade deadline is January 17, and Vancouver has five games until then, beginning with a trip to the Rockets on Friday.
“We know that if we can’t bring things together, they will bring in people who can,” Ostapchuk said. “We like our group at the moment. I think we have a very close group. We want to do well for each other. “
Twitter: @SteveEwen
Reference-theprovince.com