Coach slips good news disc to Dogs
Published Thursday November 27th, 2008
Surprise Unsuspecting rookies receive invite via DVD from Steve Yzerman to join Team Atlantic
SAINT JOHN - The young players named to Team Atlantic for the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge got the good news from a man who knows a thing or eight about wearing the maple leaf.
The 16-year-olds - including Saint John Sea Dogs Nathan Beaulieu, Kevin Gagne and Stephen MacAulay - were surprised when the message came from former Detroit Red Wings great Steve Yzerman.
Yzerman donned a Canadian jersey for eight international teams, including the 2002 Olympic champions, the 1984 Canada Cup champions and the 1983 world junior championship bronze medalists. Last month he was named executive director for the 2010 Olympic team, but he still found time to record a congratulatory message to the 22 prospects chosen to Team Atlantic.
Sea Dogs assistant coach Jim Midgley, also an assistant for Team Atlantic, delivered a DVD to the three Sea Dogs without telling them what it was.
"I put it in the computer and Steve Yzerman popped up and said, 'Congratulations, you made Team Canada for the world championships at Christmas time with Team Atlantic.' It was pretty exciting," Beaulieu said.
Although he was one of 66 players who attended a summer evaluation camp in Wolfville, N.S., Beaulieu said he had no idea if, when and how he'd be named to the team.
Midgley "just told me to stick (the DVD) in and the computer was slow so I was anxious. I didn't know what was going on," Beaulieu said. "I was overwhelmed. The first time you're representing your country is every kid's dream growing up and it's finally coming to life."
MacAulay's reaction was similar.
"When I saw (Midgley) at the front door, I didn't know what was going on. I thought it might have been a house check or something like that," MacAulay said. "He handed me (the DVD), I popped it in the computer and it was a message from Steve Yzerman saying congratulations. That was pretty neat."
Midgley and fellow Team Atlantic assistant Corey Crocker were able to arrange the special message through connections with forward Dan Cleary of the Red Wings, where Yzerman is now vice-president.
Crocker, the coach and general manager of the Maritime Junior A League's Amherst Ramblers, is good friends with Cleary, a fellow Newfoundlander. Midgley, meanwhile, was Cleary's teammate with the Belleville Bulls of the Ontario League in the late 1990s.
"Danny went above and beyond and asked Stevie Y to do it. That's pretty neat, we were all pretty excited about it," Midgley said.
Getting the message from a 10-time NHL all-star who's sixth in career scoring and has his No. 19 jersey retired by Hockey Canada is exciting enough. The next step is actually playing in the tournament from Dec. 29 to Jan. 4 in Port Alberini, B.C. The ten-team event features five regional Canadian teams, Germany, Slovakia, Russia, Finland and the U.S.
Many of the players are prospects for next year's NHL draft, and it's also an early identification tool for Canada's world under-18 and under-20 championship teams.
"It's a great honour for them. It will be the first time wearing a Canadian jersey and hopefully they'll get to do it again," said Midgley, who's also a first-timer in the Hockey Canada program.
As rookies on a contending team in the Quebec Major Junior League, the three Sea Dogs haven't had a ton of ice time. Gagne and Beaulieu have shared sixth and seventh defenceman duties while MacAulay has bounced between the third and fourth forward lines. But Midgley said they've all shown enough to deserve a spot on Team Atlantic.
"It's nice to see that all three kids were selected," Sea Dogs coach/GM Jacques Beaulieu said. "It's good for our program and it's also good for the kids. Stephen is really starting to come into his own and play some good hockey for us and gain some confidence. For Kevin, it was a bigger adjustment for him this year than everybody expected with his size (five-foot-seven, 160 pounds), but I think he's going to do very well in that tournament. Nathan, of all the young kids, has probably been the best one so far."
Team Atlantic won a bronze medal at the 2005 event with a team that included Minnesota Wild forward James Sheppard, as well as forward Brad Marchand and defenceman Andrew Bodnarchuk, who play for the Boston Bruins' American League affiliate in Providence. Sea Dogs captain Alex Grant, then a 15-year-old playing Junior A, was also a member of that team.
This year's team features some outstanding QMJHL rookies such as Moncton Wildcats defenceman Brandon Gormley and forward Ben Duffy of the Prince Edward Island Rocket, both of whom are returnees from last year's eighth-place squad. Jacques Beaulieu said he hopes his charges can play prominent roles in a successful run in 2009.
"All three kids can really contribute to that team and hopefully they'll bring a medal home."
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