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World junior opportunity knocks for Raddysh and Steel

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BOISBRIAND, QUE.

Didn’t receive an invitation to Canada’s summer development camp?

Don’t despair.

There’s a chance the party won’t go on without you.

Neither Taylor Raddysh nor Sam Steel were at the summer camp, where Hockey Canada gets its first concentrated look at potential players for that winter’s world junior championship roster.

At the selection camp this week at the Centre d’Excellence Sports Rousseau, the two are part of a group of seven players who did not participate in the camp in August.

Certainly, Raddysh and Steel weren’t thrilled to be left out, but both turned the negative around and were leading their respective leagues in scoring when this camp got underway.

Raddysh has 23 goals and 38 assists for 61 points in 28 games for the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League; Steel has 21 goals and 27 assists for 48 points in 23 games for the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League.

“I believe in my ability, so I’m not going to say I’m shocked at what’s going on or that I’m here,” said Steel, who was a first-round pick, 30th overall, by the Anaheim Ducks in June.

“I was a little disappointed (not to be at the summer camp), and though I didn’t think about it too much, I used it as motivation.”

The 6-foot-2, 209-pound Raddysh averaged just over a point a game last season with Erie. He was drafted in the second round, 58th overall, by the Tampa Bay Lightning, and set out during the summer to become an improved skater under the guidance of skating coach Barb Underhill. That’s what unfolded, and Raddysh then was given greater responsibility by Otters coach Kris Knoblauch, who wasn’t sure whether Dylan Strome would be back from the Arizona Coyotes (which did occur three weeks ago).

Raddysh happily grasped the new role.

“Last year, he played on a line with Alex DeBrincat and Dylan most of the time, and he was a benefactor of playing with good players,” Knoblauch, an assistant coach with Canada, said. “This year, in leading the OHL in scoring, he’s not just a benefactor, he is a good player. He has got better. Taylor is a big guy, and those bigger guys tend to get the biggest improvement in skating through junior and we have seen that with him.”

Raddysh has been reunited for several games with Strome in Erie, and it’s a duo which has the potential to make an impact for Canada.

As much as Strome and Mathew Barzal are expected to be offensive catalysts, the opportunity for others such as Raddysh and Steel to be influential is on the table.

Hockey Canada director of player personnel Ryan Jankowski had Raddysh and Steel in mind when the summer camp roster was composed. Jankowski has, if you will, an auxiliary list of players who didn’t get invited, but who have the talent possibly to become part of the picture.

Others at the selection camp who were not summer participants include goalie Michael McNiven, defencemen Kale Clague and Victor Mete and forwards Blake Speers and Austin Wagner.

On the other side is the group of at least 10 players (not including those now in the NHL) who were at the summer camp but were not invited to the selection camp.

“You get off to a good start, you do things right, you’re going to get a look,” Jankowski said. “You’re going to earn your opportunity to come to camp.

“I like to think we have an open mind on players. My depth chart goes a lot longer than the players who come to the summer camp.”

Neither Steel nor Raddysh intends to let this chance slip through his fingers, never mind that both remain eligible to play for Canada next year.

“It’s a bit of a mix between nerves and confidence,” Steel said of the audition.

“It’s not an easy team to make. I definitely have to earn this spot.”

‘GUYS HAVE TO DIG DEEPER’

BOISBRIAND, Que. — As one of five returning players from last winter’s Canadian world junior club, Mitchell Stephens figured he has a fairly good idea of the kinds of things that can’t happen again.

Canada finished sixth after losing 6-5 to Finland in the quarterfinals in Helsinki. The loss came after Canada won twice (including requiring a shootout to beat Switzerland) and lost twice in the preliminary round.

“We have to face adversity better,” Stephens said. “Last year we got down and we weren’t able to come back. Guys have to dig deeper.

“(The failure in Helsinki) is in the back of your mind, for sure. You never want to go through that again.”

tkoshan@postmedia.com

twitter.com/koshtorontosun

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