Grizzlies captain Alex Newhook leads the BCHL in scoring as he gets set for the World Junior A Challenge.
Photograph By DARREN STONE, TIMES COLONIST
Cleve Dheensaw / Times Colonist
DECEMBER 8, 2018 10:22 PM
Forward Alex Newhook of the Victoria Grizzlies might get plenty of opportunities in his hockey career to put on the red Maple Leaf jersey, including in the 2020 world junior tournament, and it will never get old.
“To play for your country is a special feeling,” said Newhook, projected for the first round of the 2019 NHL draft.
Newhook does it for the second time in his career when Team Canada West meets the U.S. today to open the World Junior “A” Challenge in Bonnyville, Alta. This follows Newhook’s performance last year for Team Canada Black at the World U-17 Hockey Challenge.
“We are going to play in that Canadian way — hard and with speed and intensity,” he said.
That job will be made easier in that Newhook will be well acquainted with his Team Canada West linemates. They are fellow Grizzlies Alex Campbell, also projected for the 2019 NHL draft, and Riley Hughes, a 2018 draft pick of the New York Rangers.
“We have familiarity with each other, and that helps,” said Newhook.
The other Grizzlies on Team Canada West are defencemen Carter Berger and Jeremie Bucheler.
“It’s great that all five of us made it. That’s quite a bit of an advantage we have because we all know each other so well,” said Campbell.
That’s no small thing, because the key aspect of national-team or representative play is how quickly players from many different clubs can come together as a cohesive unit.
“National-team play is usually over a short period of time, so you have to come together quickly to be successful,” said Newhook.
The Victoria five join a Team Canada West roster of 13 forwards, seven defencemen and two goaltenders that includes 14 players from the B.C. Hockey League, five from the Alberta Junior Hockey League and three from the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.
The only clubs with multiple players named are the five from the BCHL Grizzlies, the Penticton Vees of the BCHL with three and Vernon Vipers of the BCHL and Spruce Grove and Okotoks of the AJHL with two each. Based on track record, the goal for this group is the top of the podium.
“Canada West has won five of the last seven gold medals in this tournament [including last year in Truro, N.S., when currently injured Grizzlies goaltender Zack Rose backstopped the championship team],” said Newhook.
“So we are not going to be happy with anything less than the gold medal.”
Blueliner Berger concurred: “We have a fast, skilled team that is looking for the gold.”
Not that it’s going to be easy. Every team in Bonnyville, in east-central Alberta, has the same aim.
“Everyone here is a great player, with so many guys who are going to go on to college and pro careers,” said Berger.
Team Canada East opens today against Russia. The other team in the tournament, which runs through next Sunday, is the Czech Republic.
World Junior “A” Challenge alumni include Brock Boeser, Dennis Cholowski, Joe Colborne, Nikolaj Ehlers, Dante Fabbro, Mikhail Grigorenko, Tyson Jost, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Elias Lindholm, Cale Makar, Jaden Schwartz, Vladimir Tarasenko, Kyle Turris, Andrei Vasilevski, Jakub Vrana and Nail Yakupov.
cdheensaw@timescolonist.com
© Copyright Times Colonist
