After a triumphant win over Sweden in the gold medal game on August 6th, Oakville’s Calum Ritchie and Team Canada captured gold at the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup in Red Deer.
“The last minute of the game was the longest minute of my life,” former Oakville Ranger captain Ritchie said. “It was unreal.”
Canada swept the tournament on home ice, winning every game, and Ritchie was a huge part of that.
Ritchie didn’t just lead Team Canada in scoring, but he led the entire tournament after scoring 10 points in five games.
When asked about his experience at the event, Ritchie said, “It was a long process. We were out west for three weeks. Two of those weeks were selection camp, and then we played the U-20 team. (then, after that, the Hlinka tournament started) It was a really cool experience for sure, but it was a long process, and to be rewarded with a gold medal made it all worth it.”
Calum touched on what it means to lead the tournament in scoring.
Ritchie said, “Obviously, you like those personal accomplishments, but at the end of the day, I couldn’t really care less about points. I’d much rather have the gold medal than those points.”
Calum now looks forward to his season with the Oshawa Generals. Training camp starts in September, and Ritchie feels more prepared than last year.
“Every off-season, you lose that feeling of what it’s like to play in a game,” Ritchie says, “but to get those games going really helped, and I learned a lot.”
This season is also notable for Calum because it is his NHL draft year.
After this year in the OHL, Calum will be eligible to be drafted into the NHL, just like Oakville players Danny Zhilkin and Isaiah George did this year.
In a recent article by Scott Wheeler of the Athletic, Ritchie was ranked 10th overall and the first OHL player selected. This is subject to change.
Ritchie touched on whether or not he feels more pressure heading into this season due to the importance of the year, saying, “yea, for sure, the goal of mine is obviously to play in the NHL, and the draft is a big part of that. But when there is more on the line, that's when I think I thrive.”
Calum will begin his OHL regular season in Oshawa against the Ottawa 67s and hopes to have another great year and help lead his team to a Memorial Cup.