Totally worth it wake-up

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This article was published 11/12/2020 (1758 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Peyton Krebs was awakened by his parents Friday morning, ordinarily an unpleasant start to the day for any teen.

This time, the 19-year-old star centre with the Winnipeg Ice received the best news possible from the most significant of messengers. Greg and Cindy Krebs informed their son he’d earned a spot on Team Canada for the upcoming world junior hockey championship.

“I slept in ‘til about 9 (a.m.) and got a knock on my door. I thought maybe it was breakfast. We were supposed to have it in the morning and find out then,” Krebs said in a chat with the Free Press. “My coach (André Tourigny) was standing there with his phone in his hand and he had my parents on FaceTime. They told me I made it.

“We shed some tears when that happened. It’s pretty special. They’ve been so important to me all the way up. It was a nice touch, a cool way to do it. It’s a lot better than the knock last year when I got the scissors.”

Trimmed from the squad prior the 2020 tournament, Krebs’ name was among 25 others on Canada’s roster for the annual tournament that begins Boxing Day and wraps up Jan. 6, this time in a bubble at Rogers Centre in Edmonton.

Among the cuts was Seth Jarvis from Winnipeg, who plays for the Portland Winterhawks. The 18-year-old forward, taken in the first round (13th overall) by the Carolina Hurricanes in this fall’s NHL draft, was one of final nine skaters released Friday.

“This hurts. This is my first time ever being released from a team, and this is something that’s so big, something you’ve dreamed of for a long time. It really sucks,” Jarvis said. “But it’s something I’m going to try and build off of. You can use it as motivation to try and make a statement to really push yourself and work a lot hard for whatever comes up next, and that’s the route I’m going to take it.

“Remember this feeling, knowing I don’t want to go through this again, this pain, this sadness that comes with getting cut. Using it to fuel me.”

Winnipeg Jets prospect Cole Perfetti made Team Canada. The Jets selected the forward from Whitby, Ont., three spots before Jarvis at the draft.

Brandon Wheat Kings defenceman Braden Schneider, a Prince Albert, Sask., product, also made the squad.

Krebs, taken 17th overall by the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2019 draft, said while he hasn’t played a real game in nine months, he’s never been more prepared for the ultimate test for the world’s finest juniors. 

“Before the NHL playoff bubble and then inside the bubble and since then, I probably took just a week off. I really wanted to be ready for this. I came into camp feeling really good, had some solid skates and then the pause happened for two weeks because of COVID-19,” he said.

A nearly four-week selection camp in Red Deer, Alta., was interrupted by a mandatory two-week quarantine, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Brandon product Daemon Hunt, a blue-line with the Moose Jaw Warriors, was sent home Thursday after testing positive for the virus.

“This group has already had some adversity and I think we’ll come out of it a lot stronger and it’s gonna be a lot of fun,” said Krebs. “I’m fortunate to know a lot of these guys and have been fortunate to play with some of them before at other events. I’ve known (Kirby) Dach since atom hockey, and Bowen (Byram) and Dylan (Holloway) since peewee. It’s pretty cool to share this moment with them and be able to represent Canada at the highest junior level.

“There’s some guys that I met for the first time and they’re all really good people, and it’s exciting to be able to build those relationships and create friendships. That’s a lot of what hockey is.”

Krebs missed his first NHL training camp while rehabbing from a partially torn Achilles tendon just prior to being drafted, and went on to play only a partial season with the Ice. But the the 5-11, 180-pound forward scored 12 goals and set up 48 others in 38 games in his third WHL season.

During selection camp, he was shuffled in and out of several trios, playing the right side on a line with centre Quinton Byfield and on the left wing for Sam Poulin for a stretch. 

Krebs said he hasn’t spent time wondering where he’ll slot in when Canada plays its tournament opener against Germany on Dec. 26.

“That’s all up to the coaches,” he said. “I’m just excited to be part of the team and whatever role they put me in I’m going to make the most of it.”

Jarvis, meanwhile, felt he had a strong camp and left nothing on the table.

“That kind of softens the blow a little bit, just knowing I put my best foot forward and tried as hard as I could. I didn’t leave anything to chance,” he said. He’s still eligible to try to make Team Canada a year from now. “I’ll use this experience to my advantage, remembering how good everyone else is, to really push myself.”

Jarvis, who scored 42 goals in 58 games for the Winterhawks last season, was headed back to Winnipeg for a few days but will make his way to Portland prior to Christmas to train for a possible appearance at Hurricanes’ training camp and the inevitability of a shortened WHL campaign.

“I want to skate and train again as soon as possible. I’m fully invested now. This is the worst feeling that I’ve ever been through, hockey wise, so my main goal is to get back on the ice and keep improving,” he said. “I’ve had enough time at home and I think my family’s probably had enough time being around me. It’s time to get back to work.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell