With a whirlwind three weeks behind him, Wes Myron is ready to settle down and help the Victoria Grizzlies get back on track.
The Lambrick Park secondary grad was on the ice for Canada West’s 4-2 defeat of Canada East in the gold medal match of the World Junior A Championship in Langley on Sunday.
Being broadcast on TSN didn’t help the already nervous dressing room for what was “the biggest stage of my career,” Myron said.
As one of five 19-year-olds on the team, he felt it his duty to help keep his teammates dialed in.
“I guess I was pretty nervous myself. A lot of pucks were held onto a bit too long in the first period but we kept to a simple game plan of dumping it in and forechecking hard to disrupt the breakout of (Canada East’s) top four defencemen.”
Myron skated on a line with Curtis Loik of the Penticton Vees and Riley Kieser of the Humboldt Broncos (Sask.), but knew neither before making the selection camp cut as an extremely late addition two weeks ago. Myron recorded his only point, an assist on one of Loik’s two goals in Canada West’s 4-1 win over the Czech Republic on Nov. 10.
Despite going winless in their first two games, Canada bounced back when the games truly counted including a 2-1 upset over tournament-favourite Sweden on Friday.
“Beating Sweden showed us we could do it.”
The win caps nearly a month of jumping in and out of the Grizzlies lineup for Myron, who was near the top of the B.C. Hockey League in scoring when he left for a school tour of Boston University and other NCAA universities in October.
Myron committed to a full scholarship offer from Boston University for the 2012-13 season, choosing the school over 12 other offers. He’ll play with current Grizzlies forward Mike Moran and former-Grizzly Justin Courtnall.
For now, the graduate of Racquet Club minor hockey and South Island Thunderbirds major midget team is excited to get back into the Grizzlies lineup against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs, 7:15 p.m. at Bear Mountain Arena on Friday (Nov. 18).
“Hopefully we can get rolling again and see about winning an RBC Cup.”