Hitmen welcome back Fazleev and Sanheim
Jason Pirie/hitmenhockey.com
The Calgary Hitmen received a big boost today as both centre Radel Fazleev and defenceman Travis Sanheim rejoined the team for practice following a month-long absence while representing their respective countries at the World Junior Championship.
Fazleev returns to Calgary as a world silver medallist after his Russian team was edged 4-3 in overtime to host Finland in a highly-entertaining gold medal game.
“It was the best time of my life and something I’ll never forget,” said Fazleev, who despite missing 11 games with the Hitmen still leads the team in scoring with 42 points. “It was an amazing experience to represent my country and to play against such great players. (Finland) had a good team and a great tournament, and they had a big crowd behind them, but I thought we still did a great job. Unfortunately, we lost in overtime but that’s hockey.”
For Sanheim, whose Canadian squad was knocked out of the tournament in the quarterfinal by the eventual gold medal winning Finnish team, it was a disappointing result but an experience the 19-year-old defenceman said he will always cherish.
“It’s not the outcome Canada wanted, obviously, because for this country it’s gold or nothing. It’s disappointing where we finished, but for me it was still a great opportunity and it was great to be part of it,” he said. “For us, losing a couple points in the round-robin came back to bite us, because we had to play Finland in the quarterfinals, but the World Juniors has become a tournament where most of the countries are competitive. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing against it’s going to be a tough game.”
Despite being over 7,000-kilometres away, both players remained devoted to the Hitmen by following the progress of their teammates while overseas.
“The time difference made it hard, but when I woke up in the morning I made sure to check the scores and the highlights,” Sanheim said. “It was good to see the guys have some success while we were over there.”
While most teams had their world junior players back in the fold once the tournament concluded, Hitmen brass decided to provide both Fazleev and Sanheim some much needed down time after missing out on the holiday break.
“It just shows the type of organization Calgary is that they would allow us to spend time with our family and friends,” Sanheim said. “It gave us an opportunity to recoup and rest after a long tournament. And I think it’s going to benefit us down the stretch and into the playoffs.”
“It was only four days at home, but I still think it will help me in the second half of the season,” Fazleev said. “I had time to spend with my parents and friends so it was nice to go home. But it’s also nice to be back, I feel at home here.”
On their return, however, there were a couple familiar faces missing and a new one to meet in the Hitmen dressing room after forward Layne Bensmiller and defenceman Loch Morrison were traded to Prince Albert in exchange for centre Matteo Gennaro, defensive prospect Ty Prefontaine and a draft pick during Sunday’s trade deadline.
“Bensy was my roommate so it’s sad because I was still in Moscow when the trade happened,” Fazleev said. “It’s sad, but it’s hockey and it’s the business. I haven’t met (Gennaro) yet, but I’m sure our GM and coach know what they are doing and I’m sure that the trade will make our team better.”
“It’s tough to see guys that you have played with for a couple years traded, but it’s what the team felt was best and what was needed,” Sanheim said. “Now that the trade deadline has passed this is our team. We have to come together as a group and start building toward playoffs.”
The Hitmen went a pedestrian 6-5 while Sanheim and Fazleev were overseas, which included both three-game winning and losing streaks. To say the Hitmen are embracing their return would be an understatement.
“It’s going to be exciting,” said Hitmen GM Mike Moore. “We have gone 30 days without two of our best players. It gave our younger guys an opportunity to step up and play roles that they weren’t playing when Travis and Faz were here, but welcoming them both back makes our hockey team better in a hurry. It’s like we have added two more players at the deadline.”
Fazleev and Sanheim – both Philadelphia Flyers prospects – make their much-anticipated returns to the lineup when the Hitmen (26-16-1-1) pay a visit to the Swift Current Broncos (12-25-4-1) on Friday, before returning home to host the Edmonton Oil Kings (17-20-5) Saturday. Game time at the Scotiabank Saddledome is 6 p.m.
