TRURO, N.S. – Jamie McIsaac was simply over the moon when he learned his son Jared had been selected to Team Canada for the world junior hockey championship.
“We are on cloud nine,” Jamie said this week from his home in Dartmouth. “You grow up watching that tournament and then to see that our son’s going to be playing in it, it’s just amazing; it’s awesome.”
Jamie, along with his wife Sandra, daughter Jordan and father Bill, will attend the tournament to watch Jared go for gold. The family leaves Boxing Day and will arrive in Vancouver just in time for Canada’s opening game against Denmark.
McIsaac was named to Team Canada last weekend and is among seven defencemen on the 23-man roster.
His selection to the team is the latest in a growing list of achievements. Last June, he attended the NHL Entry Draft in Dallas where he was selected in the second round, 36th overall, by the Detroit Red Wings. In September, he signed a three-year entry level contract with the team.
McIsaac, who grew up in Truro and played minor hockey here until his family moved to Dartmouth in 2013, has 22 points in 23 games with the Halifax Mooseheads QMJHL team this season.
He will be joined on the Team Canada blueline by Evan Bouchard (London Knights, OHL), Noah Dobson (Acadie-Bathurst, QMJHL), Ian Mitchell (University of Denver, NCAA), Josh Brook (Moose Jaw, WHL), Ty Smith (Spokane, WHL) and Markus Phillips (Owen Sound, OHL).
McIsaac, six-foot-one, 190 pounds, is one of two Nova Scotians on the roster. Shane Bowers of Herring Cove will also wear the maple leaf. Bowers plays for the Boston University Terriers (NCAA, Division 1) and was drafted by the Ottawa Senators in the second round, 28th overall, in the 2017 draft.
McIsaac will have a strong local following during the tournament, including his girlfriend Julia Scammell, who plays defence for the University of New Hampshire Wildcats U.S. college team.
“It’s just going to be amazing,” said Scammell, who is home in Murray Siding for the holidays. “I wanted to play in that when I was a kid and now I know someone who is actually on the team … It’s going be so cool to watch. I really wanted to go, actually; I would have, but we have to be back (at UNH) before it’s over.”
Canada will play in Group A with Russia, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Denmark. Group B consists of Finland, Sweden, Kazakhstan, the U.S. and Slovakia. Vancouver and Victoria, B.C. are co-hosts for the tournament which runs Dec. 26 to Jan. 5.
McIsaac has represented his country on the international stage in the past as a member of the Canadian U18 program. Next spring, he will play in the Memorial Cup, as the Mooseheads are host team for the national junior championship.
