(left) DU's Patrick WierciochFrom: Ottawa Sun
by Don Brennan
Patrick Wiercioch was so upset when he turned up at the Air Canada Centre on Monday that he wouldn’t talk about the world junior hockey championship or the knee injury that ended his hopes of playing for Canada in the tournament.
He didn’t have to say a word, though. It was written all over his face.
Sitting in the stands at the ACC, 19-year-old Patrick Wiercioch immediately took control of the media scrum that surrounded him.
The highly touted Senators prospect flatly stated he was not going to comment on his knee injury or the world juniors he will now miss.
A few minutes later, he couldn’t help himself.
“Disappointed is probably the best word,” said the 6-foot-4, still-filling-out defenceman chosen by the Senators in the second round of the 2008 draft. “I think if there’s anything I’ll comment on, it’s that I’ve been a Canadian hockey fan since I can remember.
“I remember waking my parents up at 5 in the morning to watch the games that were overseas. I remember taking a bus downtown to watch the games in Vancouver (for the 2006 world juniors), three or four connections on a bus and buying scalpers’ tickets. It was a big part of my life growing up. It’s just tough.”
Somewhat confusing is why Team Canada officials sent him home from selection camp on Sunday, one day after Wiercioch showed up in Regina and less than 48 hours after he played nearly 30 minutes for the University of Denver vs. Minnesota Duluth.
“We think they only want the best players, and therefore if he’s hurt, they don’t have the time to sit around for a day or two to recover,” said Senators GM Bryan Murray. “We’ve looked at him (yesterday). It’s not real serious. He may have had a Grade 2 (injury) a couple weeks back, but he played on it.
“We will have our doctors look at it (in Ottawa today). The fortunate thing now is ... he has a couple of weeks before Denver starts (playing) again. He should be 100% healthy then.”
The Senators love Wiercioch, who had 12 goals and 35 points in 36 games as a freshman, and has two goals and 10 assists in 16 games this season. They see a blue line with Wiercioch, Erik Karlsson and Jared Cowen, and they wring their hands with excitement.
“He just happens to be more talented than most prospects,” said assistant GM Tim Murray, who’s also considered a pretty shrewd scout. “He’s one of the best defencemen in college hockey.”
So, when is Wiercioch going to come out? Might this be his last year in college?
“Love it to be,” said Wiercioch. “But I’d also love to get a degree. That’s important to me. I don’t think it’s going to hurt me to stay there four years. But my goal is to play professional hockey. It might take one more year, it might take two years or three years of maturity.
“I don’t think it’s worth it to leave school right now and play in the American Hockey League right away. I’d like to have a legitimate chance to make the (Senators).”
Coach Cory Clouston hasn’t seen Wiercioch play much, but sure likes his attitude.
“He’s confident,” said Clouston. “He wants to be here. He thinks he’s going to be a player. That’s really important. You have to have that inside you.”
A burning desire to show junior officials they made a mistake isn’t bad, either.
by Don Brennan
Patrick Wiercioch was so upset when he turned up at the Air Canada Centre on Monday that he wouldn’t talk about the world junior hockey championship or the knee injury that ended his hopes of playing for Canada in the tournament.
He didn’t have to say a word, though. It was written all over his face.
Sitting in the stands at the ACC, 19-year-old Patrick Wiercioch immediately took control of the media scrum that surrounded him.
The highly touted Senators prospect flatly stated he was not going to comment on his knee injury or the world juniors he will now miss.
A few minutes later, he couldn’t help himself.
“Disappointed is probably the best word,” said the 6-foot-4, still-filling-out defenceman chosen by the Senators in the second round of the 2008 draft. “I think if there’s anything I’ll comment on, it’s that I’ve been a Canadian hockey fan since I can remember.
“I remember waking my parents up at 5 in the morning to watch the games that were overseas. I remember taking a bus downtown to watch the games in Vancouver (for the 2006 world juniors), three or four connections on a bus and buying scalpers’ tickets. It was a big part of my life growing up. It’s just tough.”
Somewhat confusing is why Team Canada officials sent him home from selection camp on Sunday, one day after Wiercioch showed up in Regina and less than 48 hours after he played nearly 30 minutes for the University of Denver vs. Minnesota Duluth.
“We think they only want the best players, and therefore if he’s hurt, they don’t have the time to sit around for a day or two to recover,” said Senators GM Bryan Murray. “We’ve looked at him (yesterday). It’s not real serious. He may have had a Grade 2 (injury) a couple weeks back, but he played on it.
“We will have our doctors look at it (in Ottawa today). The fortunate thing now is ... he has a couple of weeks before Denver starts (playing) again. He should be 100% healthy then.”
The Senators love Wiercioch, who had 12 goals and 35 points in 36 games as a freshman, and has two goals and 10 assists in 16 games this season. They see a blue line with Wiercioch, Erik Karlsson and Jared Cowen, and they wring their hands with excitement.
“He just happens to be more talented than most prospects,” said assistant GM Tim Murray, who’s also considered a pretty shrewd scout. “He’s one of the best defencemen in college hockey.”
So, when is Wiercioch going to come out? Might this be his last year in college?
“Love it to be,” said Wiercioch. “But I’d also love to get a degree. That’s important to me. I don’t think it’s going to hurt me to stay there four years. But my goal is to play professional hockey. It might take one more year, it might take two years or three years of maturity.
“I don’t think it’s worth it to leave school right now and play in the American Hockey League right away. I’d like to have a legitimate chance to make the (Senators).”
Coach Cory Clouston hasn’t seen Wiercioch play much, but sure likes his attitude.
“He’s confident,” said Clouston. “He wants to be here. He thinks he’s going to be a player. That’s really important. You have to have that inside you.”
A burning desire to show junior officials they made a mistake isn’t bad, either.
13 comments:
Herb Brooks was the last player cut from the USA Team that won the gold medal in 1960. He used that disappointment to fuel his career and later lead the USA to Gold in 1980.
Hopefully Wiercioch can have similar success.
Sounds like Patty might persevere and see the light at the end of the tunnel here....If your goal is to win an Olympic medal... then, I guess you can sulk. If your goal is to be an NHL player.... pickup your head, look at your options, and play where ever you can best work on achieving that goal.... and right now, Denver is that place. A National Championship in about 120 days from now will cure what ail's you, Patrick.
Omaha Maverick steaks for dinner on January 2nd!!!!!
I can't help but wonder if Canada's continuing thought of "real hockey players don't play for US colleges" had anything to do with it. Meaning that perhaps in their minds, if he was a truely dedicated hockey player he would be playing in one of their leagues and not in the NCAA. Even Chambers makes slight reference to that point in his comment of "Wiercioch's dream of becoming a rare NCAA player to represent Team Canada at the World Junior Championship" in the posting before this one.
Just a thought.
I don't think Team Canada could have handled that much worse. At least let him skate if you bring him all the way up to Regina. If he isn't up to snuff send him home with the other "cuts".
Whether the Team Canada brass actualy factored PW's choice of US college over Canadian junior into their decision or not is irrelevant. The damage has been done. A bunch of young kids in Canada see this happen and now they will all think twice about coming to the U.S for college hockey if they also want to play in the world junior for Canada.
What a joke. It's obvious Team Canada used his knee as an excuse to cut him. Why give a kid false hope like that???
Canada cut four more players today.
http://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.php/ci_id/16980/la_id/1/ss_id/25001/nr_id/69050.htm
Patrick should apply for duel citizenship and play for Team USA in the 2014 Olympics. Don't get mad get even. :-)
I feel so bad for him. Hopefully he's able to play in the Olympics one day for Canada.
@ dggoddard -
I'm pretty sure that's what one of the women's basketball players did this past Olympics. The US team cut her, but because she had dual citizenship she was able to play for Russia instead.
Patty is more than welcome to play for Team US if he chooses. :)
Stastny was another player that could play for Canada, the USA or Slovenia.
NHL Players should be banned from the Olympics. Let's get back to using College & Junior players like in the 70's-80's
I personally don't like having NHL players in the Olympics either. They just build an "all-star" team from those players, who may not even have chemistry together.
Small correction:
Stastny's family is Slovakian, and not Slovenian. His father is actually is member of the European Parliament representing Slovakia from the capital city of Bratislava. Slovakia and the Czech Republic split into independent countries in the early 1990s from what was the former Czechoslovakia under the yoke of the former Soviet Union..
Slovenia, on the other hand was part of the former Yugoslavia, which also split apart in the early 90s from the Soviet Yoke, along with Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia-Hercegovina, etc.
Wow Swami; I'm impressed with your knowledge of the Eastern Block! Nice job!
Post a Comment