There is no group under more pressure at the 2025 Canadian junior hockey team selection camp in Ottawa than the seven players who were part of last year’s fifth-place finish in Sweden, which was considered a catastrophe by Canadian standards.
That group includes former Victoria Grizzlies B.C. Hockey League star Matthew Wood from Nanaimo.
“That was a real learning experience in a lot of ways for that group. This group is so different from that group. The returning players, ultimately, are going to have to make this team, too. There are no freebies,” Peter Anholt, U-20 program lead for Hockey Canada, said in his media scrum.
The point was being pounded home time and again Wednesday as camp got into full swing.
“I thought at times last year we could have been more competitive. That will be a clear message to our players up and down,” said Hockey Canada VP Scott Salmond, in his media scrum.
The returning seven are going to have to earn their second chance, stressed Salmond: “One thing we did this year is hire Scott Walker as a player development coach and he spent time with those players who are returning and visited them and had conversations earlier and more often. So, the expectations are clear and there is no doubt about the expectations of them. Nobody has higher expectations than those players. When you live through a fifth-place finish for Canada, and you have an opportunity to come back, and right that and right that in Canada, it’s a great opportunity and they realize that.”
Wood, the six-foot-four power forward who now stars for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers of the NCAA Big Ten, doesn’t have to be told twice.
“We were pretty upset last year and didn’t do as well as we wanted,” Wood told the Times Colonist.
“I think even non-hockey people in Canada heard about it last year [failing to medal]. So, yes, you can call it unfinished business,” added the Islander, who was selected 15th overall in the first round of the 2023 NHL draft by the Nashville Predators.
Joining Wood in the Canadian camp as returnees from last year’s underachieving team are Brayden Yager, Oliver Bonk, Easton Cowan, Tanner Molendyk, Scott Ratzlaff and Carson Rehkopf. They all realize they are on notice.
“Last year didn’t turn out the way we wanted,” Yager said during his media scrum in Ottawa.
“We’ve got to be more competitive this year. We are going to come back and be as competitive as we can and try and win gold on home soil. We didn’t just forget about it [last year]. But that’s in the past and we’re focused on this year.”
The selection camp runs through Saturday in Ottawa. The Canada training camp begins Sunday in Petawawa, Ont., and includes two games against the U Sports all-stars. Canada will also play Switzerland, Sweden and Czechia in pre-tournament games before opening the 2025 world juniors against Finland on Boxing Day.
WORLD JUNIOR NOTES: Tobias Pitka of the Victoria Grizzlies, the six-foot-four NCAA Boston College-committed forward who has seven goals and 17 points in 20 BCHL games, is at Slovakia’s world junior selection camp.
