 |
| Ryan Pulock |
The 19-year old Grandview product was left off the roster for the Canadian Junior Team's Selection Camp later this month in what is his final year of eligibility to play at the World Junior Hockey Championship.
"It obviously sucks but, at the same time, it's something that I can really use for motivation," said Pulock on CKLQ's Monday Sports Talk this week, "Looking at it right now it's tough but the long run for me is that I want to play in the National Hockey League one day and it's definitely not out of the question just because of one little speed bump here."
Only eight defenceman were among the 25 players invited to the selection camp in Toronto, with former Red Deer Rebels' blueliner Mathew Dumba loaned to the team by the NHL's Minnesota Wild.
Winnipeg Jets' first round pick Josh Morrissey of the Prince Albert Raiders, Edmonton's Griffin Reinhart, Kelowna's Damon Severson and Portland's Derrick Pouliot were the other WHL defencemen invited.
I, personally, had an uneasy feeling for Pulock heading into the Subway Super Series after he was a) chosen to play in just one game instead of both and b) snubbed from wearing a letter despite being a second-year captain of a WHL team and a third-year participant in the series.
I asked Pulock if he had an inkling something wasn't quite right.
"I won't say, exactly. Obviously, only playing in the one game and there was some little things. I tried not to think about it and go about my stuff," said Pulock, "It was a goal to make it but without that happening, there's absolutely nothing I can do so I'm not going to sit here and dwell on it. I'm just going to move forward."
Pulock's not the first and certainly won't be the last quality player to not be given the opportunity to play at the World Junior Hockey Championship, but for Wheat Kings' fans, his exclusion seems eerily similar for Wheat Kings' fans to 2004, when Eric Fehr and Ryan Stone went to the camp but were among Brent Sutter's final cuts of the Canadian team that year.
Fehr went on to win the WHL Player of the Year award, Stone finished the regular season with 99 points and the Wheat Kings advanced to the Western Hockey League Final.
Fans can only hope Pulock's motivation from the Hockey Canada snub will motivate him to succeed in the same fashion.
Here's the conversation between Pulock, myself and Peter Gerlinger during CKLQ's Monday Sports Talk this week...
Chaff...Wheat Kings' GM/Coach Kelly McCrimmon said on Monday's Coaches' Corner on CKLQ that he was confident goaltender Curtis Honey will return to their lineup later this week. Honey has missed the last 13 games after suffering an upper body injury October 30th.
.jpg)
.jpg)
0 comments:
Post a Comment