Steve Ewen: Taylor Gauthier's world junior path reminds of Tanner Pearson's journey
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Furthering his Tanner Pearson comparisons would be a positive thing for Taylor Gauthier.
Gauthier became one of the rare players to crack a Team Canada lineup for a world juniors after being passed over in the previous two NHL drafts when coach Andre Tourigny pegged the Prince George Cougars’ southpaw netminder as a member of his squad for the upcoming tournament in Edmonton.
Pearson, a Vancouver Canucks’ winger, is among the other players in that limited category, thanks to his appearance in the 2012 world juniors. The popular tournament proved to be a springboard for him. Pearson was a first-round draft pick that summer, going No. 30 overall to the Los Angeles Kings. He has 450 games and counting on his NHL resume.
“This is great for Gauthier and great for our team,” said Mark Lamb, Prince George’s general manager and coach. “A kid like Gauthier turns into an inspiration for other players in our program. We all have disappointments. It’s about what you’re going to do coming out of them. I feel like he’s turned the right way.”
Taylor Gauthier is hoping to become the 1st Prince George Cougar to ever win a World Jr. gold medal with Canada 🇨🇦 He officially made the 2021 roster, but still has work to do in earning that prestigious go-to goaltending slot | https://t.co/mwgHm502vm #CityOfPG @PGMatters pic.twitter.com/veLDrUPoiK
— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) December 11, 2020
Prince George hasn’t made the playoffs in three Western Hockey League campaigns. They were 20-34-4-4 last season when COVID-19 shut down the WHL in March. Gauthier was leading the league in minutes played (2,870) and was second in shots faced (1,677) at the time. For his WHL career, he’s 39-74-8-8, with a 3.28 goals against average and a .903 save percentage.
Gauthier, who’s part of a Team Canada netminding trio that includes the Kamloops Blazers’ Dylan Garand (New York Rangers, 2020 fourth-round pick) and Northeastern University’s Devon Levi (Florida Panthers, 2020 seventh round), is the lone member on the 25-player roster who hasn’t been drafted by an NHL club.
All 14 Team Canada forwards and six of the eight defencemen named to the team are NHL first-round picks.
Gauthier and Garand are among the nine current WHL players and one alumni — Chicago Blackhawks centre Kirby Dach — on Team Canada. There are two B.C. products in Garand, who’s from Victoria, and Cranbrook’s Bowen Byram, the Vancouver Giants’ defenceman who is one of six returnees from last year’s Team Canada squad that won gold in the Czech Republic.
There’s a BCHL alum as well in former Victoria Grizzlies forward Alex Newhook, who’s now attending Boston College.
Gauthier may have no NHL connections yet, but Hockey Canada is well versed with the Calgary native, considering he played for the program at the Under-17 Hockey Challenge, Under-18 worlds and the Under-18 Gretzky Hlinka Cup.
Pearson didn’t have any history with the national program before playing alongside Brendan Gallagher, Mark Stone and Mark Scheifele and for coach Don Hay at the 2012 world juniors.
Pearson was a 14th-round OHL Priority Draft pick of the Barrie Colts, but didn’t debut with them until his 18-year-old season and didn’t garner major attention with the Colts until that world junior year the following campaign, when he compiled 26 goals and 66 points his first 30 games before leaving for Team Canada’s tryout camp.
The Cougars made Gauthier the No. 10 selection in the 2016 WHL Bantam Draft. The first three picks that year were Peyton Krebs, Dach and Byram. They’re all a part of this Team Canada. The No. 19 choice was Dylan Cozens. He and Byram are among the six returnees from last year.
Dach, Byram and Cozens were selected in the first seven picks of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. Krebs went later in the first round. Gauthier came to the draft with a large contingent of family and friends, expecting to hear his name called. He waited out the 217 selections through seven rounds over two days.
“I was there. It was awful,” Lamb said of being at Rogers Arena. “He got over it. He came back, he played hard last season and he didn’t get drafted again. I still think all this has made him stronger.”
Dawson Mercer (@NJDevils) sets up Connor Zary (@NHLFlames) on the doorstep but Taylor Gauthier stands tall with a big save. pic.twitter.com/GigSn9Rb6g
— J.D. Burke (@JDylanBurke) November 22, 2020
Connor Zary with the first big scoring chance of the second.
— Steven Ellis (@StevenEllisTHN) November 22, 2020
Taylor Gauthier was on it. #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/uIg8msHyRE
Talking to hockey people, the knock on Gauthier is that his game can lose its structure and he can rely too much on his athleticism and battling to make saves. He doesn’t deny that this tournament could help focus another spotlight on his talents, but maintains he’s not thinking about NHL possibilities.
“I do realize that teams will be watching and looking, but I just try to focus on playing my game and help out in any way that I can to be successful,” he said over a Zoom call earlier this week.
“The last couple of years have been filled with ups and downs. Going through the draft the first time and not getting selected was definitely a little heartbreaking. I didn’t know how to deal with that kind of adversity. Growing up I had always been picked for the highest team.
“I got back to work. I tried to control the things that I could control. That was a big boost to my mental strength. Control the things you can control and don’t worry about the other variables, such as the draft or even making this team. It gave me a little peace of mind.”
Brett Leason, who played for Team Canada at the 2019 tournament after being passed over in the previous two NHL drafts, is another story similar to Pearson’s. The Prince Albert Raiders’ forward was picked in the 2019 second round by the Washington Capitals.
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