Team Canada made the first cuts at their World Junior selection camp on Thursday night, paring down the roster by six players. One of those six: Canucks prospect Kole Lind.
It’s a tough break for Lind, who was on his final year of eligibility for the World Junior tournament. Lind is already 19, so will be 20 by the time the next tournament comes around. The same is true of Jonah Gadjovich, whose birthday is just a few days apart from Lind’s, while Michael DiPietro will have one more chance if he doesn’t make the team this year.
For both Gadjovich and DiPietro, the dream of playing for Team Canada remains alive, as both survived the first round of cuts.
Along with Lind, five other players were cut: Cody Glass, Dennis Cholowski, Logan Stanley, Jonathan Ang, and goaltender Samuel Harvey. The Glass cut comes as a bit of a surprise: the highly-touted centre was drafted 6th overall in 2017, right after the Canucks selected Elias Pettersson. With 20 goals and 48 points in 30 WHL games, it definitely seems like Team Canada could miss his offence.
Lind has had fewer points this season than Glass, but a similar points-per-game rate, with 13 goals and 36 points in 23 games before dealing with a bout of mono. His strong start to the season gave him a chance to make the team, but he wasn’t at his best at Team Canada’s summer camp and didn’t make enough of a case for himself at selection camp.
Lind was heartbroken by the cut, but tried to remain upbeat. “It's something that's out of my control,” he said. “I did what I could and played pretty well. There's some things I can take away from this, both good and bad. This is a learning experience for me.”
Today, Gadjovich was a healthy scratch for Team Canada’s game against Denmark, while DiPietro will battle with Colton Point for the backup role with Canada. DiPietro might have made the team already: they’re down to three goaltenders and have had three goaltenders on the roster for previous tournaments.
“I think it's a good sign,” said Gadjovich about being a healthy scratch. “I have to wait for tonight to see what they say. I've shown Team Canada that I'm willing to play the role that they need and I think I'm someone they could use on the roster.”
