Cap News: McMillan’s silver success
r By Warren Henderson – Kelowna Capital News
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r The experience may not have come gift-wrapped with the highly anticipated gold medal, but Brandon McMillan still wouldn’t trade in a moment of his time in Team Canada colours.
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r As sobering as the final verdict was, the speedy Kelowna Rockets forward didn’t need to look far to find a silver lining in Tuesday night’s loss to the United States in the final of the world junior hockey championship.
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r “I guess I can look back at it and say it was a really good experience,” said McMillan, 19, upon arriving back in Kelowna Wednesday morning. “All the guys there were great, we really were a great team and the team really gelled together. Overall, it was really just a great couple of weeks for myself.”
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r McMillan and his Canadian mates were part of what most observers agree was yet another classic contest in the annals of world junior hockey between Canada and the U.S.
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r Canada trailed 5-3 in the third period before Jordan Eberle delivered two dramatic goals in the dying minutes to force overtime.
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r But with McMillan watching from the bench, Canada’s bid for a sixth straight gold medal was crushed when John Carlson scored at 4:31 of the extra session to give the U.S. the win in front of more than 15,000 fans at Saskatoon’s Credit Union Centre.
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r “They were two really good teams,” said McMillan, “and you know both teams fought hard and were pretty evenly matched. One team had to lose…I think losing overtime is tough when you know you’re so close.”
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r Despite seeing his team settle for second best , McMillan’s play drew rave reviews throughout the tournament from both the coaching staff and a number of hockey analysts.
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r McMillan finished the tourney with four goals and fours assists and, as he did numerous times with the Rockets last season, the 5-foot-11 speedster displayed his versatility by dropping back and playing defense when called upon. While he prefers playing forward by a considerable margin, McMillan said he was still able to take some positives out of his latest stint along the blue-line.
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r “It was tough going back there, going back and forth but I thought I handled it pretty well,” he said. “It was another step for me playing defense in the gold medal game as well as in the Memorial Cup last year.”
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r With the world junior experience now under McMillan’s belt, Rockets head coach Ryan Huska expects the veteran centre’s best hockey is yet to come—much like defenceman Tyler Myers showed last year when he returned from the world junior tournament in Ottawa.
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r “I think (Brandon) is capable of that, and once they actually realize that they can compete and play with the best for their age group around the world, they have that confidence coming back that they can do it night in and night out,” said Huska. “It usually takes a couple of games to get themselves grounded feeling good again, but I really do believe Brandon’s going to be similar to the way Tyler was when he came back last year.”
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r McMillan’s return is indeed good news for the Rockets who, because of a rash of injuries, have been playing with a very young and shortened bench the last two weeks.
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r McMillan was given the night off Wednesday against Everett, but will be back in the fold this weekend for a home-and-home set against the Kamloops Blazers.
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r “The team’s in tough right now with missing a lot of bodies,” McMillan said. “They’re going to need that leadership from myself, and just another player to go out there and play.”
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