The Victoria Royals forward and Tri-City Americans puck-moving defenceman will be back on opposite sides tonight and Saturday after playing together this week on the Western Hockey League team that split the 2016 CIBC Series against the Russian junior selects with a 3-2 overtime loss in Prince George and 4-1 victory in Edmonton.
鈥淸Wotherspoon] is very deceptive on the blue line and will be a tough test for us,鈥� said Soy.
鈥淚t was nice to get to play with guys you are normally battling against,鈥� said Soy, who mostly played on a WHL line with Vancouver Giants forwards Tyler Benson and Ty Ronning against the Russians.
The series against the Russians is part of the evaluation process used to select the Canadian team for the 2017 world junior championship, which begins next month in Montreal and Toronto.
鈥淚 thought I did pretty well and was solid in three zones. I got time on the power play and penalty kill. It was good to see they had confidence in me to do that,鈥� said Soy, who picked up an assist in the two-game set.
Royals head coach Dave Lowry, Canadian assistant coach at the 2015 world juniors and head coach for the 2016 side, said there is nothing like the crucible of international play and every player selected to participate comes back to their club as a better performer because of it.
鈥淵ou get to play in emotional games with quick turnarounds [to the next games],鈥� said Lowry.
Soy is under no illusions that cracking the Canadian lineup will be easy. But his coach has his back and believes there is more to be mined yet out of this 19-year-old from Cloverdale.
鈥淭yler is an elite player. You don鈥檛 score 46 goals [Soy鈥檚 total last season] by accident,鈥� said Lowry.
鈥淲e believe there is more to his game and we want to help him grow.鈥�
Also returning tonight from international assignment is Royals rookie forward Eric Florchuk, who won silver with sa国际传媒 Black after a 2-1 loss to Sweden at the World U-17 Challenge in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
Florchuk finished with a goal and three assists and rose from being the 13th forward on sa国际传媒 Black to first line centre.
鈥淚t was a real learning curve and helped my game,鈥� said Florchuk. 鈥淵ou are given a role on a national team [that might be different than on your club team].鈥�
Florchuk wanted to impress on Canadian coaches his well-rounded game.
鈥淚 believe I was good in the defensive zone . . . and I got time on the penalty kill,鈥� said the 16-year-old from Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.
The Americans (12-6-1) and Royals (10-7-2) meet tonight and Saturday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. The first meeting was Oct. 28 with the Americans prevailing 5-4 in overtime in Kennewick, Washington.
Meanwhile, the Royals made a minor trade Thursday by sending the rights to forward Zach Russell, currently with the Calgary Canucks of the AJHL, to the Brandon Wheat Kings in exchange for a sixth-round pick on the 2017 bantam draft.
