McNabb in big role at U-18/Clouston signs...

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McNabb finds bigger role with Team Canada

by Jeff Bromley

When the final buzzer sounded March 25 in a 4-3 loss the Brandon Wheat Kings to end their season, like most of his team-mates, Kootenay Ice defenseman Brayden McNabb wished otherwise.

Less than 24 hours later his wish was granted.

The 18-year-old Davidson, Saskatchewan product was named the Canadian entry into the 2009 U-18 World Championships going on in Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota on April 2 but knew he was going to be named to the team following Kootenay’s exit from the WHL playoffs. “No, I couldn’t tell anybody but I guess I didn’t really want to go around town telling everybody but the day after we lost out (Hockey Canada) called me,” said the Ice d-man from Minneapolis, Minnesota shortly after Canada had dumped Slovakia 5-2 in Canada’s last warm-up before opening the tournament Thursday night against Germany in Fargo. “It was disappointing to go out four straight (to Brandon) but now it’ll be exciting to come over here and try and win another gold medal.”

Canada are the defending champions this season after winning just its second gold medal in the ten-year history of the tournament – for players born in 1991 or earlier - last year under the guidance of Pat Quinn. Unlike the U-20 World Junior Championships held over the Christmas holidays Hockey Canada only has the luxury to select players whose junior season has ended.

For McNabb, who seen a meteoric rise in his NHL Draft stock after playing a key role this season with the Ice, this will be his second crack at an international gold medal after winning gold at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament last summer. His role then was a seventh defenseman/role player. In Fargo that role has changed considerably and his blueline partner is six-foot-eight Taylor Doherty on the club’s number one defensive pairing. “No, it’s a little bit different this time,” said McNabb. “I’ve been playing on the first tier penalty-killing and that’s what they told me that I’d be used as PK shutdown guy, a rough and tough defenseman that guys don’t want to play against.”

The tournament exposure for the six-foot-four blueliner is yet another notch in the belt as McNabb prepares for the NHL Draft come June. Besides playing in front of family and friends the stands will be packed with NHL scouts. How he plays will go a long way to determining how far up the line both his NHL Central Scouting final ranking comes in at and where he’ll actually go in the draft. “You try not to think about it but the draft is always in the back of your head,” said McNabb, who clocked in at the number the 73 spot in NHL Central Scouting’s mid-term rankings. “It’s your draft year and right from the beginning of the season you’re thinking about it but you try and not let the pressure go to you. I just want to go game-by-game, event-by-event and just finish up the year with a good tournament.”

Team Canada has got their work cut for them as their opponent nations have all wrapped their league play, freeing up their top U-18 players. “I know most of the guys we’re playing against but it’s going to be tougher with this tournament because all the European teams have been preparing for this tournament. The others are more of a prep for this one and this is where they really want to cash-in. It’s going to be a tough one"

Quick Hits - Ice prospect Brendan O'Donnell of the Winnipeg Midget Wild, a 9th round pick in the 2007 Bantam Draft, led all scorers at the Western Midget Regionals with 4 goals and 7 assists for 11 points in 4 games. The Wild fell to the Notre Dame Hounds of the Saskatchewan Midget league 8-2 in the four-team tournament final. O'Donnell has verbally committed to the NCAA's Univertisy of North Dakota... Ice second round pick from the same draft, forward Elgin Pearce, was in Cranbrook during the club's first round sweep at the hands of the Brandon Wheat Kings. Pearce, 16, played with the BCHL's Langley Chiefs this season notching five goals and five assists in 40 games. It's hoped the Port Coquitlam product will be in Kootenay's training camp in September.