WHL NOTEBOOK: World juniors a memorable experience for Quenneville

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/01/2016 (3816 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

John Quenneville can separate the great experience from the terrible disappointment.

The 19-year-old Brandon Wheat Kings forward was part of Canada’s entry in the world junior hockey championship that lost in the quarter-final round to the eventual gold medallists from Finland on Saturday.

“I was trying to seize the moment because it was just such a special time for me,” Quenneville said. “The whole experience was awesome. Being able to play on the world junior team was so special and such a big thing for Canadians. I had such an amazing time. I enjoyed the people that I worked with. The whole journey was just awesome.”

Quenneville knew many of the players who were on the Canadian team but made some good new friends as well, he said.

There were certainly some other familiar faces in Finland for the Edmonton product. His parents, sister, girlfriend and grandparents all made the trip.

“Just as much as it’s special for me, it’s special for them,” Quenneville said. “They’ve watched me grow as a hockey player my entire life and this is kind of the pinacle moment so far. Obviously they’re really proud of how far I’ve come and being able to share that experience with them over there was the best part for me. Just seeing how happy they are to see me playing at that stage and knowing how much support I have from back home and here in Brandon was awesome.”

The New Jersey Devils’ first-round draft choice in 2014 was also joined by Wheat Kings head coach and general manager Kelly McCrimmon, who served as an assistant coach on the national team.

Quenneville had a goal and an assist in five games with Team Canada. He chuckles about his one snipe at the world juniors, which ricocheted in off his shin guards in the victory over Denmark. The forward, who sits fourth in Brandon scoring with 13 goals and 20 assists in 25 games, said he has scored maybe one garbage goal in the Western Hockey League this season.

“I had a lot of really glorious opportunities that I wasn’t capitalizing on and then the one that I end up scoring on was a play by Mitch Marner where I had cycled the puck down to him and I just went to the front of the net to try to create some traffic,” Quenneville said. “It bounced off my leg and went in.”

As sensational as the experience was for the thoughtful 19-year-old, it came with a heavy emotional toll at times.

The first tough moment came when his Wheat Kings teammate and friend Jayce Hawryluk was one of the final cuts by Canada just prior to the tournament.

“When you have an experience like that and you have the opportunity to work with people that are close to you, like Jayce is and like Kelly is, seeing Jayce go was heartbreaking for me,” Quenneville said. “I wanted us to be on that journey together. It was just too bad how things worked out.”

The second major letdown came when Finland beat Canada 6-5 in the quarter-finals, knocking the defending champions out of the tournament without a medal. Canada went 2-3 overall.

“Any time you play for Team Canada there’s only goal in mind and that’s to win gold,” Quenneville said. “Anything short of that is definitely a disappointment and an underachievement. In all honesty, I thought we had a really good team and a chance to win the tournament, just like any other team did. I thought we deserved more than we got in our elimination game but that’s how it goes. It’s hockey.”

Quenneville, who attended team practice on Tuesday but didn’t skate, admitted that his body clock is completely out of whack after the gruelling 30-hour trip back to Brandon. He arrived in Winnipeg on Monday evening and slept until noon on Tuesday trying to catch up.

He said experience has taught him that trying to re-adapt to the time zone as quickly as possible is key.

With the tournament in Finland behind him, Quenneville is re-focusing on the 32 regular season games that lie ahead for the Wheat Kings and a potential playoff run. He likes what he sees in Brandon.

“It’s a weird year for us,” Quenneville said. “We feel like we’ve underachieved yet we’re in a first-place position in the East and a couple points out in the Eastern Conference. It’s something that I think is encouraging. We feel like we’ve underplayed and we’re in the position that we are. It speaks volumes about the personnel and the depth that we have.”

AROUND THE WHL: The Swift Current Broncos sent overage goaltender Landon Bow to the Seattle Thunderbirds on Tuesday for overage forward Jamal Watson and goaltender Taz Burman, 18. Brandon fans may remember Bow’s 53-save performance in the Wheat Kings’ season opener on Sept. 25 which the Broncos won 2-1 in a shootout. Both Watson and Burman joined Seattle in off-season trades …There have now been 11 deals in the league since the Christmas trade moratorium was lifted and 15 since Dec. 1. As mentioned in this space last week, the total deals in the last few seasons from Dec. 1 until the trade deadline by year were 40, 33, 23, 22, 22 and 31 …Red Deer’s new first line, at least for now, features newcomers Jake DeBrusk and Adam Helewka with Ivan Nikolishin. The Rebels trio has a combined 123 points in 87 games.