(above) Joe Colborne is another DU player who's not happy to be home for the holidaysFrom: Cochrane Eagle
by Jeremy Nolais
Unlike most people, Joe Colborne was looking forward to working this holiday season.
Unfortunately the Cochranite, who is a first round draft pick of the NHL’s Boston Bruins and former Canadian Junior A hockey player of the year, won’t get the chance as he was left off the recently announced tryout roster for Canada’s world junior hockey championship team. Team Canada will faceoff against the world’s best young hockey talent in the prestigious tournament Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Regina.
“It was painful,” said Colborne of learning he was not invited to the final selection camp. “It sucks because I have been dreaming of playing in the world juniors my whole life, but you have just got to move on I guess.”
Colborne, who currently plays for the University of Denver Pioneers — ranked in the top three in every major poll in NCAA Division 1 hockey — said playing south of the border may have hurt his chances and believes his playing style has always been a point of contention with national hockey scouts.
“Hockey Canada hasn’t really been a big fan of me,” said the 6'6", 190-pound forward. “It just seems like they are pretty set on having small, speedy forwards and then focus on bigger defenseman.
“Obviously I am a bigger guy and I just like to control the puck down low. It just seems like they were going in a different direction and that’s their choice.”
But Al Murray, the head scout for Team Canada, says Colborne was given a fair shot when he, along with 79 other players, was invited to Hockey Canada’s initial assessment summer camp earlier this year, but ultimately didn’t quite measure up.
“The easy answer and the truthful answer is that Joe was simply beat out by other good players,” Murray said. “We have more good players than we have spots when it comes to picking a team or players for a camp because of the depth our country produces.”
Murray added that Colborne is a dominating asset to have on the powerplay, but feels his physical presence needs serious improvement.
“We usually actively look for physical guys,” Murray said. “Joe has some real strengths to his game and some real limitations. He was one guy that was heavily considered, but ultimately got beat out.”
Colborne, meanwhile, is disappointed to say the least, but plans to look past this stumbling block and focus on the second half of his season with the Pioneers.
“We have got a deep team, we have got a strong team and hopefully we will be able to string some wins together near the end of the year and go all the way to the national championship,” said Colborne, who sits third on the Pioneers in scoring with six goals and eight assists in 17 games.
But the 19-year-old’s pursuit of an NCAA title is still a few weeks away and for now Colborne plans to venture home for the holidays to spend time with his family.
“I didn’t really have too many plans because I was really hoping to do the world juniors,” he said.
“Obviously it’s going to be a bittersweet time, I get to go home and be with my family around Christmas, but I would have definitely been OK with missing Christmas if I was playing world juniors.”
Unfortunately the Cochranite, who is a first round draft pick of the NHL’s Boston Bruins and former Canadian Junior A hockey player of the year, won’t get the chance as he was left off the recently announced tryout roster for Canada’s world junior hockey championship team. Team Canada will faceoff against the world’s best young hockey talent in the prestigious tournament Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Regina.
“It was painful,” said Colborne of learning he was not invited to the final selection camp. “It sucks because I have been dreaming of playing in the world juniors my whole life, but you have just got to move on I guess.”
Colborne, who currently plays for the University of Denver Pioneers — ranked in the top three in every major poll in NCAA Division 1 hockey — said playing south of the border may have hurt his chances and believes his playing style has always been a point of contention with national hockey scouts.
“Hockey Canada hasn’t really been a big fan of me,” said the 6'6", 190-pound forward. “It just seems like they are pretty set on having small, speedy forwards and then focus on bigger defenseman.
“Obviously I am a bigger guy and I just like to control the puck down low. It just seems like they were going in a different direction and that’s their choice.”
But Al Murray, the head scout for Team Canada, says Colborne was given a fair shot when he, along with 79 other players, was invited to Hockey Canada’s initial assessment summer camp earlier this year, but ultimately didn’t quite measure up.
“The easy answer and the truthful answer is that Joe was simply beat out by other good players,” Murray said. “We have more good players than we have spots when it comes to picking a team or players for a camp because of the depth our country produces.”
Murray added that Colborne is a dominating asset to have on the powerplay, but feels his physical presence needs serious improvement.
“We usually actively look for physical guys,” Murray said. “Joe has some real strengths to his game and some real limitations. He was one guy that was heavily considered, but ultimately got beat out.”
Colborne, meanwhile, is disappointed to say the least, but plans to look past this stumbling block and focus on the second half of his season with the Pioneers.
“We have got a deep team, we have got a strong team and hopefully we will be able to string some wins together near the end of the year and go all the way to the national championship,” said Colborne, who sits third on the Pioneers in scoring with six goals and eight assists in 17 games.
But the 19-year-old’s pursuit of an NCAA title is still a few weeks away and for now Colborne plans to venture home for the holidays to spend time with his family.
“I didn’t really have too many plans because I was really hoping to do the world juniors,” he said.
“Obviously it’s going to be a bittersweet time, I get to go home and be with my family around Christmas, but I would have definitely been OK with missing Christmas if I was playing world juniors.”
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