‘Biggest game of my life”

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This article was published 07/01/2020 (2406 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Joel Hofer can finally take a breath.

The goaltender’s whirlwind season, highlighted when he backstopped Canada to thrilling 4-3 come-from-behind victory over Russia in the gold-medal game of the world junior hockey championship in Ostrava, Czech Republic Sunday, included a stopover in his hometown Monday.

Resting during a three-day break will be a top priority before he returns to his regular gig with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks.

“I’m going to try, that’s for sure — it would be nice to get some sleep in my own bed,” said the 19-year-old after landing at Winnipeg’s Richardson International Airport Monday night. 

“That was definitely the biggest game of my life. There was lots of nerves going into that game but for me, I was just going out there having fun and playing my game and luckily we won.”

Hofer replaced starting goaltender Nico Daws midway through a 6-0 round-robin loss to the Russians on Dec. 28 and went the rest of the way for Team Canada, winning all five starts while posting a .932 save percentage, 1.60 goals-against average and one shutout to earn the tournament’s top goaltender honours.

Hofer admitted the Canadians felt the weight of expectations after the devastating round-robin defeat.

“It was a huge disappointment for us and I know that after that game we kinda wanted revenge on them, right?” said Hofer. “I’m glad we got that revenge and it turned out to be a really good game and luckily we got the gold out of it.”

The championship is a spectacular achievement for Hofer, who was not invited to the Canadian junior team evaluation camp last summer and had never represented his country at the international level.

A strong first half of 2019-20 with the Winterhawks earned him a spot at last month’s selection camp.

“I wasn’t invited to the summer showcase thing or any of that but it was a goal of mine (to make Team Canada) — you’ve gotta work hard and good things will happen,” he said. “… It’s a huge honour for me to be part of the world juniors… and then obviously to win the gold medal with the team I was part of was pretty special.”

The Canadians had good fortune on their side, rallying from a 3-1 third-period deficit to take the lead before avoiding a delay-of-game penalty when an errant clearing attempt struck a remote TV camera with 1:47 remaining.

“It’s not the position you want to be in but I think our group was really resilient and we really stuck with it,” said Hofer. “We just kept battling and we got a good bounce off (Connor) McMichael’s shinpad and it went in. Obviously the hockey gods were on our side. And everyone’s talking about the camera incident, so I think everything went in our favour.”

Hofer’s parents Steve and Elaine, along with his youngest sister, travelled to Europe for the tournament.

“They’re huge supporters for me and I think that just being there kinda helped me settle in a little bit and kinda made it feel like home,” said Hofer.

“It was definitely nice to see them and it’ll be nice to be home and spend time with them for a couple of days.”  

A fourth-round pick of St. Louis in the 2018 NHL draft, the 6-4 1/2, 173-pounder signed a three-year, entry-level deal worth US$2.775 million with the Blues last spring.

Hofer is having an all-star calibre season with the Winterhawks with a 20-4-2 record, .937 save percentage and league-leading 1.81 goals-against average.

Hofer will fly to Victoria Friday to rejoin the Winterhawks, who are top contenders for the WHL title.

Portland, which traded six draft picks to the Swift Current Broncos to acquire him a year ago, currently lead the U.S. Division with a  27-6-1-3 record and was No. 3 in the Canadian Hockey League’s latest rankings.

 

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14