Cote Doesn’T Lose Heart But Canada May Be Missing It Without Him In World Tournament

Christmas in Russia is hardly every boy’s dream.

It was Brandin Cote’s.

The World Junior Hockey Championship will be played in Moscow, Russia, this year.

Cote would have shown up in Siberia, if that’s where the tournament were held.

As long as he has been strapping on skates, the 19-year-old captain of the Spokane Chiefs has had a place in his heart - and when time allowed a place on his TV viewing schedule - for junior hockey’s premier international event.

For two years, he was in the developmental passing lane, in the under-17 and underaged national programs that groom the best for the Canadian national junior team.

On Monday, Team Canada named 34 players to compete for 22 seats on the plane to the former Soviet Union. Cote’s name was not among them.

By passing on Cote, has Team Canada’s recent emphasis on speed and skill come at the expense of guts and glue? Has heart and soul become passe?

Cote, no doubt, is one of dozens of deserving players who didn’t make it. The faster international game seems tailored for Spokane’s Tim Smith, who was also dropped from consideration.

Some day, the people who pick the U.S. team might be sorry they didn’t think of Kurt Sauer, the Chiefs’ Minnesota-bred defenseman. Nearly ever city with a major junior franchise can probably make a case for one of its own.

But by passing on Cote, is Team Canada unwittingly distancing itself from the qualities that made it the dominator of this event? The Canadians haven’t won it in three years.

Other countries with speed and skill have skated by the take-the-body Canadians, or so goes the criticism.

Cote may have been caught in a crossfire of conflicting opinion; what do you do with a center whose chief attribute is that he knows how to win?

Heading into tonight’s game in the Arena with the Prince Albert Raiders, Cote was careful on Tuesday not to criticize the selection process. But pressed for a comment on what seems to be a changing appreciation for the intangibles that marked the string of gold-medal-winning Canadian teams, he was frank.

“I remember Canada out there just running everyone, getting on the forecheck and dominating down low,” Cote said. “I think over the past couple of years, they may have gotten away from that a little bit. I think they’re trying to to get more skill.”

He didn’t mean that as criticism, exactly.

“When I look at the (Team Canada) roster, there are a lot of good players,” he said. “It was an honor, just to be considered. I really believe I hung it all out and did everything I could.”

So Cote and his family will enjoy their unscheduled time together in their adopted hometown of Red Deer, Alberta.

“Time off over Christmas is something I was hoping I wouldn’t have,” said Cote, referring to the tournament that runs from Dec. 26-Jan. 5. “But I’ll get some rest and enjoy myself a little bit on the outdoor rink.”

Although the banged-up Chiefs really need him here, they would have gladly parted with him next week for selection camp, and beyond.

“I know that disappointment weeds guys out,” Cote said. “This is a test. When you don’t get drafted, or when you do your best and it’s not good enough for something like this, you know that some people would say they were getting a raw deal and pack it in.

“That’s why a lot of players don’t make it. I don’t want to say I’m going to shove it back in their faces, but I have to look at this as a chance to prove them wrong.”

Notes

The Chiefs’ impressive depth up front has been stretched. Emerging WHL star Matt Keith will miss three months, or most of the rest of the regular season, after Tuesday’s surgery on his shoulder. … The Chiefs won’t have Ryan Thorpe for tonight’s game. He’s serving a suspension stemming from a a checking-from-behind incident in Portland. Thorpe will be allowed to play Friday night in Seattle. Depending on the severity of the injury he inflicted, Thorpe may or may not be available for Sunday night’s game in Portland.