Saskatchewan players return home to celebrate world junior gold medal

Less than 24 hours after winning gold for Canada at the world junior hockey championship, Saskatchewan products Kevin Korchinski and Nolan Allan touched down in Regina to meet up with their Seattle Thunderbirds teammates.

The Thunderbirds were in town to play Connor Bedard’s Regina Pats on Friday, but none of them suited up for the WHL game because the coaches decided to give them a rest.

Canada beat Czechia 3-2 in overtime in Thursday’s world junior gold-medal game in Halifax, with Dylan Guenther scoring the game-winner at 6:22 of OT.

Seattle, which had four players (defencemen Korchinski and Allan, goalie Thomas Milic and forward Reid Schaefer) on Team Canada, was in Regina on Friday as part of a lengthy eastern road trip.

Speaking at the first intermission of the Pats-Thunderbirds game at the Brandt Centre, Allan and Korchinski described what it was like winning gold for Canada on one of hockey’s biggest stages.

“It’s been crazy,” said Korchinski. “It’s gone by so fast celebrating with the guys and it’s been really special and something I’ll cherish the rest of my life.”

“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind. (It was a) pretty exciting moment (Thursday) night and then you hop on a plane a couple hours later and you’re back in the Western league,” added Allan. “It was a pretty exciting experience.”

Korchinski is from Saskatoon and spent all of his minor hockey career playing in the city until he joined the Thunderbirds.

Allan had a different route to Seattle. He’s from Davidson and spent a lot of his minor hockey days playing there.

He then moved away and played AA club hockey in Humboldt from 2016 to ’18. After that, he spent the 2018-19 season with the Saskatoon Blazers before moving on to Prince Albert and playing four WHL seasons with the Raiders.

He was dealt to Seattle in November in a blockbuster deal that included five players and six draft picks.

The teammates aren’t just from Saskatchewan, but they’re also both first-round picks of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks.

While they never played against each other or crossed paths growing up, Korchinski said it’s pretty cool to see each other this connected in the hockey world.

“Both being Chicago prospects, we got to know each other really well,” explained Korchinski. “Representing Sask is awesome and getting the job done is great.”

Both said Guenther’s golden goal was clearly the top moment of the tournament. But Korchinski said the goal was extra important to the group given how much time they had spent together over the last month.

“We had a really great group and just kind of bonded away from hockey,” Korchinski said. “When that (winning goal) happened, it (became) an even closer and tighter group. It was good vibes all around.”

Korchinski finished the tournament with a goal and three assists, while Allan registered a goal and an assist.

Now that the world juniors are over, the two are ready to refocus their attention to Seattle.

After a 6-0 victory over Regina on Friday, the T-Birds held a WHL-best record of 29-4-1-1. They also hold the No. 1 spot in the CHL’s Top 10 rankings.

According to Korchinski and Allan, they have one simple goal for the rest of the season.

“I think most of our goals are team-oriented goals. We want to be the best team in the league and try to win against whatever team we play against,” Korchinski said.

“The goal is to win a WHL championship and I think we’ve got the group here to do it,” Allan added. “We’re excited to see where we can take this thing with our team.”