By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Jimmy Bubnick leaves for Europe today, and he plans on doing more than
sight-seeing while he’s there.
Bubnick, who will be a sophomore forward with the Kamloops Blazers in the
approaching WHL season, was named Tuesday to the Canadian under-18 team that
will compete in the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament next week.
The 22-player roster was revealed yesterday, following a four-day selection
camp at Father David Bauer Arena in Calgary.
“I’m looking forward to it,” said Bubnick on the eve of his first trip to
Europe. “I hear it’s a different world over there so it should be a really
good experience.”
Bubnick, a 17-year-old native of Saskatoon, scored twice in two intrasquad
games during the selection camp and is expected to play as one of Canada’s
top six forwards.
“Jimmy had an outstanding camp,” Hockey Canada head scout Al Murray said.
“He showed a combination of speed and skill, and we’re counting on him to be
one of our top offensive players. He’ll play on our top two lines.”
That’s just fine with the 6-foot-1, 187-pound Bubnick, who had 27 points in
64 games as a rookie with the Blazers last season.
“We haven’t discussed much, but I’m willing to accept any role I’m given,”
Bubnick said. “Scoring would be my choice.”
The plan, he said, is to play on the top two lines and to contribute
offensively.
“I’m willing to accept that and, hopefully, carry it out and get a gold
medal,” he added. “That’s good pressure.”
Bubnick is one of three Saskatonians on the team, the other being Brandon
Wheat Kings forward Brayden Schenn and Carter Ashton, a forward from the
Lethbridge Hurricanes. While Murray and the coaching staff were making cuts,
those three, along with Swift Current Broncos forward Cody Eakin, spent the
time playing cards. All four ended up making the team.
See CANADA / A12
Continued from A14
Bubnick, Ashton and Schenn played together on a high-scoring line with the
midget AAA Saskatoon Contacts in 2006-07.
When Canada opens the tournament Tuesday against Switzerland in Piestany,
Slovakia, Bubnick may find himself playing with Schenn and Brandon;s Scott
Glennie. That trio played well together during the first two intrasquad
games. In the third game, with Schenn resting a sore leg, Bubnick played
with Landon Ferraro of the Red Deer Rebels and Louis Leblanc, who played
midget AAA in Lac St-Louis, Que., last season.
Bubnick said he had a “pretty good” camp. “I got off to a slow start but I
picked it up as camp progressed,” he said.
The Canadian team is scheduled to fly out of Calgary today at 5:50 p.m. It
will play two exhibition games — against the U.S. in Trnava, Slovakia, on
Saturday and the Czech Republic in Breclav, Czech Republic, on Sunday.
During the tournament, Canada will play in Group B with Slovakia, Sweden and
Switzerland. Group B will play in Piestany.
Group A features Czech Republic, Finland, Russia and the U.S., and will play
out of Breclav.
The championship game is set for Aug. 16 in Breclav.
JUST NOTES: Bill Peters, who left the Spokane Chiefs last week to become
head coach of the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs, is Team Canada’s head coach. . . .
The Canadian team’s traveling party includes former Daily News sports writer
Chris Jurewicz, who now works in media relations with Hockey Canada. . . .
Canada has won gold at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial in three of the last four
years. . . . There won’t be any TV or radio coverage of the tournament. . .
. Team Canada’s roster, which includes 10 WHL players, is in Scoreboard.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
