On Dec. 26, Canada will line up to play Finland in their opening game at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship in Gothenberg, Sweden.
Prince George Cougars centre Riley Heidt won’t be there. He will be in Prince George watching the game on TV as he prepares to face the Edmonton Oil Kings the following night.
It doesn’t matter that Heidt is leading the Western Hockey League in scoring, averaging 2.04 points per game as the top-line centre for the Prince George Cougars, who despite their 5-3 loss Friday to the Victoria Royals, continue to hold down first place overall in the 22-team league.
The powers that be at Hockey Canada, who earlier this week selected four goalies 10 defencemen and 16 forwards for the tryout camp that starts Sunday in Oakville, Ont., decided the 18-year-old Heidt was not good enough to deserve an invitation to the audition.
That decision does not sit well with the Cougars or their fans and for Heidt it was a solid right hook to the jaw.
“It’s very simple, he deserves to go,” said Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb. “What else he supposed to do? He’s leading the league in scoring. We’re the Number 1 team in the WHL. Our power play in Number 1, our penalty-killing is Number 1 and he’s the Number 1 guy on both special teams.
“He deserves to be there.”
Last season, Heidt finished fifth in the WHL scoring race tied in assists (72) with a guy named Connor Bedard. Heidt was rewarded last summer when the Minnesota Wild picked him in the second round, 64th overall. Last season he was pegged by most pundits as a potential first-rounder and he’s certainly lived up to that billing this year with 15 goals and 55 points to show for his first 27 games.
Heidt has already represented his country twice, first with the U-18 national team in the summer of 2022 on their gold-medal run at the world championship, then he helped the U18s win bronze at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup last May in Switzerland.
His impeccable junior hockey track record makes it puzzling why the Saskatoon native was left off that 30 player world junior list.
“It’s obviously surprising, it stings for a little bit but there’s nothing I can do about it,” said Heidt, after he scored once and assisted on two others in Friday’s 5-3 loss to Victoria at CN Centre.
“I’m trying to do the best I can to help this team win. I just have to focus on my team, I can’t control others’ decisions. It’s frustrating but there’s nothing I can do.”
It’s not the first time a budding hockey pro has been snubbed come world junior time. For Lamb one name immediately comes to mind.
“In my era, Ray Ferraro didn’t go (in 1983), and he had 108 goals that year as the leading scorer,” said Lamb. “There’s lots of them like that. Whatever they’re seeing, I don’t know.”
As director of scouting for The Sports Network, Craig Button is well-versed on the top junior-aged hockey prospects. The former Calgary Flames general manager regularly provides insights as a colour commentator and between-periods guest on game broadcasts and he says it’s always difficult for Hockey Canada to leave talented players with high pedigrees off the roster.
“The world junior tourney is the highest level of hockey at the U20 level,” said Button. “It's a 10-day tourney that requires a readiness to help a team compete for a gold medal. It does not matter in the evaluation of potential players; their draft status, their future potential or their current season stats. The sole criteria is what available players are ready and capable at this particular time to help the team compete for a gold medal.
“It also includes players who can take on different roles for the team. All players are willing to take on different roles but there needs to be a competency in performing those roles to help the team compete for a gold medal.”
Button has seen Heidt play at the U-18 level and he says he’s not the first player and certainly won’t be last to be disappointed not to get picked for the world junior team. It happens every year and he said that speaks to the depth of Canada’s team.
“Those in charge of making the decisions are relentless in their work to evaluate the current group of players who can potentially make up the team,” said Button.
“They know the players intimately and make decisions on the basis of very clear and defined criteria over significant periods of time, from present to past.
“Players who are 18 are rarely ready for this tourney as it truly is a 19-year-old tournament. As it relates to Riley, I would express that he is not ready at this time. He was evaluated but like a lot of other players at this age, their time for this tourney is not now.
“It's a common refrain when the selection camp is announced or the team selected, about player omissions. I have heard it for decades. The management and coaching group are confident in the players they have selected to compete for the gold medal.”
The Cougars will still be represented at world juniors. Defenceman Villiam Kmec is heading to Slovakia’s tryout camp after he played for the team last year and centre Ondrej Becher is a solid candidate for Team Czechia.
“I’m super-happy for both of them, they’ve both had great starts as well, they’ve both taken off and they had good summers so it’s good to see and I’m excited for them,” said Heidt. “It’ll be nice to go home and see my family again, it’s the favourite time of year for me and it’ll be good to recharge for the second half of the year.”
