Nash wants shot at playing for Canada

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Riley Nash will carry Kamloops’ colours to the Canadian national junior
hockey team’s selection camp in Ottawa next week.
Nash, a forward who plays for the Cornell Big Red, was one of 38 players
named by Hockey Canada to the camp roster on Wednesday.
A product of Kamloops minor hockey, Nash was most relieved to see his name
on the roster when it was released.
“Ever since the summer camp I’ve been eyeing this date and hoping to see my
name on that roster,” Nash said prior to hitting the practice ice yesterday
afternoon. “This is another chapter . . . we’ll see how this one goes.”
The 6-foot-0, 176-pound Nash, a first-round selection by the Edmonton Oilers
in the 2007 NHL draft, is a sophomore at Cornell, a school based in Ithaca,
N.Y. A second-team all-star and the ECAC’s rookie of the year — he also was
the Ivy League’s top rookie — last season, Nash, 19, has five points,
including three goals, in eight games.
He was one of 45 players at Canada’s summer evaluation camp in Ottawa in
late July. Nash said that camp was really important to him.
“It was nice to finally compare myself against major junior guys and guys
you hear about . . . to see where you realy sit in that group of kids,” Nash
said. “It was nice to finally see where I am. I thought I did really well
there.
“It was a good feeling coming out of there. I definitely wasn’t discouraged
. . . I know I’m right there.”
Born in Consort, Alta., Nash moved to Kamloops with his family — including
Shannon and Greg, his mom and dad — before he was a year old. He advanced
through Kamloops minor hockey and played with the major midget Thompson
Blazers before moving on to the BCHL’s Salmon Arm SilverBacks. His WHL
rights are owned by the Swift Current Broncos, who selected him in the
fourth round of the 2004 bantam draft.
This season, the Big Red is off to a 5-1-2 start and is ranked 13th in the
country.
“Things have been pretty good,” Nash said. “The team is playing really
well.”
Personally, Nash said he is playing better than his numbers would seem to
indicate.
“I have had a slower start offensively as far as numbers are concerned but I
feel I’ve been playing very good defensively and have been playing pretty
solid hockey so far,” he said, adding that his defensive play is a “big
upgrade from last season.”
He also is enjoying a second season of playing alongside his older brother,
Brendon, a junior defenceman with the Big Red.
“It’s cool,” Riley said. “Right now, I really like it but I think when I get
older I’ll really appreciate how nice it was. We never played together
growing up. We were two years apart so he’d move up when I moved up.”
As for a rivalry during practice, well. . . .
“We had a scrap in preseason so we got the bad blood out,” a laughing Riley
said.
Nash is the only forward from an NCAA school on Canada’s camp roster, but
there are three defencemen — Cody Goloubef and Brendan Smith of Wisconsin
and Patrick Wiercioch of Denver and is from Maple Ridge.
Of the 38 players on the roster, 18 are from the WHL. That includes forward
Zach Boychuk of the Lethbridge Hurricanes and defenceman Thomas Hickey of
the Seattle Thunderbirds, both of whom were with the Canadian team that won
gold at the 2008 tournament in Czech Republic.
Hockey Canada may add to the roster before the camp opens, too, as it
continues to talk with NHL teams about acquiring the services of eligible
players who are playing there.
The selection camp runs Dec. 11-15 at the SPB Arena in Ottawa and the
Robert-Guertin Arena in Gatineau, Que.
The tournament opens Dec. 26 in Ottawa. One of the opening-day games has
Canada playing Czech Republic.
JUNIOR JOTTINGS: Canada’s selection camp roster is in Scoreboard. . . . The
biggest omissions from Canada’s camp roster would appear to be D Jared Cowen
of the Spokane Chiefs, who is projected as a top five selection in the NHL’s
2009 draft, and LW Kyle Beach of the Everett Silvertips, who was a
first-round pick by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2008 draft. . . . D Nick
Ross of the Kamloops Blazers wasn’t invited to the selection camp. He had
been a late addition to the summer evaluation camp that was held in Ottawa.
. . . Blazers D Michal Siska will attend a Slovakian selection camp in
Ottawa starting Dec. 16. F Milan Kytnar of the Saskatoon Blades also will be
in that camp. . . . Spokane had three players named to the U.S. national
junior team — LW Drayson Bowman, C Tyler Johnson and C Mitch Wahl. Also
named to the American team were D Jon Blum of the Vancouver Giants and C Jim
O’Brien of the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . As well, F Radim Valchar of the
Portland Winter Hawks has been invited to attend Czech Republic’s selection
camp that opens Dec. 15 in Brampton, Ont. . . . C Colin Smith, the Blazers' first pick, seventh overall, in the 2008 bantam draft, will make his WHL debut in his hometown when Kamloops meets the Oil Kings in Edmonton on Friday.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca