World Juniors Recap – Canada 11, Austria 0

In the summer season of 2013, Caedan Bankier and Logan Stankoven had been two
10-year-olds competing for a spot on the Brick Invitational. After beginning
out in numerous tryout teams, they each made the workforce and shortly discovered
themselves flying to Edmonton and Los Angeles to symbolize their province.

“I performed in opposition to him heaps rising up in spring hockey, we had been like six,
seven, eight, however I by no means received to know [Bankier],” Stankoven says. “We had
workforce practices collectively and that’s after I first actually received to know Banks
fairly properly.”

“It was just an instant connection,” Bankier provides. “We spent a whole lot of time
collectively and simply had comparable pursuits.”

After the match, they saved in contact, reuniting in different spring
tournaments and with Team B.C. on the 2019 Canada Winter Games. They had been
each chosen by the Kamloops Blazers within the 2018 WHL Prospects Draft;
Stankoven was chosen fifth total by his hometown workforce and Bankier, a
Surrey, B.C., product, went forty ninth total.

“I was super excited,” Bankier says of being drafted with Stankoven. “[It]
made the entire course of a complete lot simpler for me stepping into with any person you
know… [it] makes the expertise all that extra pleasurable too.”

Bankier and Stankoven had been two of three 16-year-olds that had been included on
the Blazers’ roster for the 2018-19 season. From there, the forwards labored
their manner as much as turning into the workforce’s main scorers, with Stankoven
recording 17 targets and 44 factors and Bankier notching 20 targets and 33
factors to this point this season.

GOING FOR GOLD ????????

Congrats to @LoganStankoven & @Caedan_Bankier on being named to Canada’a Final World Junior Roster! Go make #blazernation proud ???? pic.twitter.com/u9I0sCNiV9

— Kamloops Blazers (@blazerhockey) December 12, 2022

Not solely has their scoring made an affect on the Blazers, so has their
management. Stankoven was named an alternate captain with Kamloops for the
2020-21 season, grew to become a co-captain in 2021-22 and wears the ‘C’ this yr.
Bankier is energetic within the Blazers’ management group as properly, serving as an
alternate captain for the previous two seasons.

“We need it to be an pleasurable and superior expertise to play in Kamloops
and we simply try to make it really feel like that wherever we go,” Bankier says.

The friendship continued to develop off the ice too—from taking part in video video games
(the NHL collection and Fortnite are video games of selection) to Bankier shifting into
Stankoven’s household residence for a month through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The phrase was early January, possibly [they’d] begin again up the season once more,
so Banks wished to come back to Kamloops and prepare with just a few of us,” Stankoven
explains.

“It was onerous for me to search out coaching in Vancouver, so I requested him if I
might dwell with him for just a little bit earlier than the season began and he mentioned
sure,” Bankier provides. “We had an off day […] and we determined to go on an
out of doors rink simply to skate round. We had been fairly lucky we had been the
solely ones on the market and we nonetheless had the entire day left. So, Stanks determined
to guide us a tee time on a golf course afterwards.”

“It was a crazy day,” Stankoven says. “It’s not too typically that you simply go
{golfing} and then you definitely’ll go skate on an outside pond on the identical day within the
center of December.”

When Stankoven attended choice camp final yr forward of the 2022 IIHF
World Junior Championship, he had teammate Dylan Garand by his facet, who
had beforehand competed within the 2021 World Juniors. This yr, the roles
reversed: Stankoven is coming off a gold medal efficiency in August whereas
Bankier attended his first Team Canada camp.

“It’s good to have any person that you simply undergo this complete course of with.
It’s not straightforward,” Stankoven says. “It’s hectic being a man that was attempting
to struggle for a spot on the workforce, and with me going by means of it final yr, I
was capable of assist Banks this yr.”

“On the aircraft trip, I feel I requested him one million questions on what his
expertise was like and simply what to anticipate for me,” Bankier provides. “Going
in final yr, he simply labored his manner onto the workforce and that was my purpose
this yr: to work my manner on. I attempted to copy every little thing he did final
yr and that manner, we might expertise this occasion once more collectively.”

After a powerful displaying at choice camp, the 2 buddies waited to listen to if
they’d be taking the ice collectively sporting the Maple Leaf.

“He’s had a real nice season with our team back in Kamloops,” Stankoven
says of Bankier. “He went on the market in two video games [against a team of U
SPORTS all-stars] and had a purpose and a pair assists and appeared actually
good. [I was] simply happy with him as a good friend.”

“I couldn’t believe it,” Bankier says about making Canada’s National Junior Team. “First, I received a knock on the door, and it was the [housekeeping]
service… I had so many feelings operating by means of my head. Obviously, a bit
later I received a knock on the door and there was the assistant coach and the
digicam on the market.

“You watch these movies on social media from years previous with guys. For you
to be the one within the video, I can’t even describe it. It’s a lifelong
dream.”

From match teammates to Blazers leaders, the duo are able to embrace
the worldwide stage collectively as they compete in Halifax on the 2023 World Juniors.

“Very few get to expertise the World Juniors, however solely a handful get to do
it with their greatest buddies,” Bankier says. “I’m fairly fortunate and I’m actually
wanting ahead to it.”

“We’ve created some good memories over the years,” Stankoven says. “I feel
having a crack at this match collectively is one thing that I feel is
going to essentially repay in the long term with our workforce internet hosting the Memorial
Cup. Hopefully [we] win a gold medal right here and take this expertise again to
our workforce and have a very good remainder of the season.”