Canada’s Olen Zellweger during the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship.
photo: Chris Tanouye / HHOF-IIHF Images
Most Canadians can attest to this situation.
You’re travelling somewhere in the world outside of your home country and you tell someone you’re from Canada. Their response? “Hey, do you know Jim from Toronto?”
Alas, Canada is a large country and, no, most Canadians do not know each other, given the fact there are some 40 million people living here. So it isn’t a given that any Canadian World Junior team would include three players who have known one another for more than a decade and grew up in or around the same city, playing winter and spring hockey together as kids.
But this Team Canada does, with forwards Colton Dach and Reid Schaefer and defender Olen Zellweger all hailing from the Edmonton area. Dach and Zellweger grew up in Fort Saskatchewan (just north east of Edmonton) and Schaefer was on the other side of the Alberta capital in Spruce Grove. The trio have all cracked the final roster and will represent Canada at the upcoming 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship in Moncton and Halifax.
“I played with Colton in bantam (under-15) second year. I was actually on the team with Olen and Colton,” says Schaefer. “Me and Zell and Colton all grew up playing against each other in minor hockey. Then we all came together and went to the Okanagan Hockey Academy (Edmonton) and won a (Canadian Sport School Hockey League) championship together and then have just kept our friendship going. They’re just good guys to have around.”
Dach and Zellweger actually grew up about five houses down from one another and spent a lot of time on the outdoor rinks in the Fort Saskatchewan area.
“I have probably known both of them for 10 years at least. It’s pretty cool to have those guys here and experience this with them. It’s pretty awesome,” says Zellweger. “Me and Reid and Colton played on the same spring hockey team 10 years ago or something. It’s awesome to see them here. They’re both really great players. We also did play bantam together and won the playoffs, which was pretty awesome. I won’t forget that. There were a lot of road trips and tournaments in that league. I remember bussing and riding the plane with those guys. Pretty fun.”
Edmonton and northern Alberta are somewhat of a hockey mecca these days thanks in large part to Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl but this Team Canada should also take some credit for that spotlight.
Joining Dach, Zellweger and Schaefer on this team from the area are forwards Dylan Guenther of Edmonton and Zack Ostapchuk of St. Albert. That’s five players who grew up within 45 minutes of one another, all making the final roster of 22 players that is as competitive and difficult as any to crack. No other region in the country is that well represented on this team.
As is the case with all elite athletes as they get older, each of the five has gone his own way and to his own club. You can’t keep these guys together forever. But they continue to cross paths in the Western Hockey League, with Dach playing for the Rockets in Kelowna, Ostapchuk a Giant in Vancouver, Zellweger a Silvertip in Everett and Schaefer a Thunderbird in Seattle. Guenther, who has spent most of this season with the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes, spent his Western league career with the Edmonton Oil Kings. One more Edmonton tie is that Schaefer was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers and attended the club’s rookie and main camps prior to this NHL season, hitting the ice with the likes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
The Edmonton (and area) Five will al play big roles if Canada is going to defend the gold medal it won at the summer World Juniors in – where else – Edmonton.
“We have to play the Canadian way. It starts now with preparation; it really started days ago when everybody got to selection camp,” says Zellweger, who was a member of the gold-medal winning Canadian team at the summer World Juniors in August. “Everyone who is here is part of the journey and the tournament. I’m looking forward to the tournament. It comes down to playing the right way, being consistent and I believe we have a group here that is going to be pretty special.”
Canada is expected to have no trouble filling the net with stars like Connor Bedard, Shane Wright and the aforementioned Guenther. But this team will have no shortage of grit, either.
Dach and Schaefer spent much of Canada’s selection camp on the same forward line which also included Joshua Roy. Dach, at 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, and Schaefer, at 6-foot-4 and 219 pounds, are expected to cause some chaos for opposing teams. Call them energy guys or grinders or role players, but those words might undermine the speed and skill that the two will bring to each and every game.
“Reid and I are bigger guys so we want to go out there and make sure those guys never want to touch the puck again when we’re out there,” says Dach. “We want to be very physical and keep the puck down low in the offensive zone and hem them in there.”
Adds Schaefer: “There’s a lot of skill on this team and it’s a very deep team. I think my role on this team is to be a big, two-way power forward. I can be reliable in the defensive zone, kill penalties, and also provide a little bit of offence.”
You’re travelling somewhere in the world outside of your home country and you tell someone you’re from Canada. Their response? “Hey, do you know Jim from Toronto?”
Alas, Canada is a large country and, no, most Canadians do not know each other, given the fact there are some 40 million people living here. So it isn’t a given that any Canadian World Junior team would include three players who have known one another for more than a decade and grew up in or around the same city, playing winter and spring hockey together as kids.
But this Team Canada does, with forwards Colton Dach and Reid Schaefer and defender Olen Zellweger all hailing from the Edmonton area. Dach and Zellweger grew up in Fort Saskatchewan (just north east of Edmonton) and Schaefer was on the other side of the Alberta capital in Spruce Grove. The trio have all cracked the final roster and will represent Canada at the upcoming 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship in Moncton and Halifax.
“I played with Colton in bantam (under-15) second year. I was actually on the team with Olen and Colton,” says Schaefer. “Me and Zell and Colton all grew up playing against each other in minor hockey. Then we all came together and went to the Okanagan Hockey Academy (Edmonton) and won a (Canadian Sport School Hockey League) championship together and then have just kept our friendship going. They’re just good guys to have around.”
Dach and Zellweger actually grew up about five houses down from one another and spent a lot of time on the outdoor rinks in the Fort Saskatchewan area.
“I have probably known both of them for 10 years at least. It’s pretty cool to have those guys here and experience this with them. It’s pretty awesome,” says Zellweger. “Me and Reid and Colton played on the same spring hockey team 10 years ago or something. It’s awesome to see them here. They’re both really great players. We also did play bantam together and won the playoffs, which was pretty awesome. I won’t forget that. There were a lot of road trips and tournaments in that league. I remember bussing and riding the plane with those guys. Pretty fun.”
Edmonton and northern Alberta are somewhat of a hockey mecca these days thanks in large part to Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl but this Team Canada should also take some credit for that spotlight.
Joining Dach, Zellweger and Schaefer on this team from the area are forwards Dylan Guenther of Edmonton and Zack Ostapchuk of St. Albert. That’s five players who grew up within 45 minutes of one another, all making the final roster of 22 players that is as competitive and difficult as any to crack. No other region in the country is that well represented on this team.
As is the case with all elite athletes as they get older, each of the five has gone his own way and to his own club. You can’t keep these guys together forever. But they continue to cross paths in the Western Hockey League, with Dach playing for the Rockets in Kelowna, Ostapchuk a Giant in Vancouver, Zellweger a Silvertip in Everett and Schaefer a Thunderbird in Seattle. Guenther, who has spent most of this season with the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes, spent his Western league career with the Edmonton Oil Kings. One more Edmonton tie is that Schaefer was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers and attended the club’s rookie and main camps prior to this NHL season, hitting the ice with the likes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
The Edmonton (and area) Five will al play big roles if Canada is going to defend the gold medal it won at the summer World Juniors in – where else – Edmonton.
“We have to play the Canadian way. It starts now with preparation; it really started days ago when everybody got to selection camp,” says Zellweger, who was a member of the gold-medal winning Canadian team at the summer World Juniors in August. “Everyone who is here is part of the journey and the tournament. I’m looking forward to the tournament. It comes down to playing the right way, being consistent and I believe we have a group here that is going to be pretty special.”
Canada is expected to have no trouble filling the net with stars like Connor Bedard, Shane Wright and the aforementioned Guenther. But this team will have no shortage of grit, either.
Dach and Schaefer spent much of Canada’s selection camp on the same forward line which also included Joshua Roy. Dach, at 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, and Schaefer, at 6-foot-4 and 219 pounds, are expected to cause some chaos for opposing teams. Call them energy guys or grinders or role players, but those words might undermine the speed and skill that the two will bring to each and every game.
“Reid and I are bigger guys so we want to go out there and make sure those guys never want to touch the puck again when we’re out there,” says Dach. “We want to be very physical and keep the puck down low in the offensive zone and hem them in there.”
Adds Schaefer: “There’s a lot of skill on this team and it’s a very deep team. I think my role on this team is to be a big, two-way power forward. I can be reliable in the defensive zone, kill penalties, and also provide a little bit of offence.”