It was the best quality of hockey Robert Kincaid has had the privilege to be part of.
In late August, the 17-year-old Barrhead native was selected to play in the prestigious Junior Club World Cup in Sochi, Russia, representing Canada as part of an Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) select team.
The Junior Club World Cup is an eight-team international tournament, featuring players from Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.S.
Kincaid, a defenceman, was named to the team following the 2018-2019 season, when he played with the Camrose Kodiaks.
“It was an honour just to be named to the (Canadian Junior Club) team and to be able to accomplish what we did ... I am just so proud of all my coaches and teammates,” he said, noting going into the tournament not many people gave them a chance.
“We were only one of two teams that didn’t have anyone drafted by an NHL team.”
Kincaid’s adventure started with a week-long mini-camp in Camrose before the team departed for Moscow.
They stayed in the Russian capital for five days getting acclimatized to the nine-hour time difference and preparing for an exhibition game against a local team which plays in the country’s top junior hockey league.
AKincaid said that while the local squad was talented and played well, the AJHL all-stars had little problem dispatching them by two or three goals.
“It was the easiest game we had, by far. [The exhibition game] was good hockey but it wasn’t anything like the tournament. It was the highest level of hockey that I have ever played,” he said.
When Kincaid wasn’t practicing, he and his teammate had a chance to tour the city, including a visit to the Kremlin.
It was in Moscow where Kincaid felt he had a chance to experience more of the Russian culture, adding Sochi is more of a tourist destination.
“It was definitely different,” he said. “People drive all crazy. There are no speed limits. You don’t look people in the eye or smile. If you do, they aren’t happy.”
After the exhibition game, the team flew to Sochi, a 19-hour, 1,600-kilometre journey by vehicle.
If they didn’t already know it, Kincaid said it didn’t take them long to realize they were involved in something special.
“As soon as we got off the plane, we were met by every major TV station, their equivalent to TSN, Sportsnet, Global, et cetera asking us for interviews,” he said.
From the airport, they made about a 20-minute trek to Olympic Park. At first, the team thought they would be staying at the dormitories in what used to be the Olympic Village for the 2014 Olympics, but instead, they were taken to a luxury five-star hotel.
“It was just beautiful,” he said, noting that from the hotel the players could see the Black Sea and the mountains.
More importantly, Kincaid joked that it had a 24-hour buffet.
After taking one day off, the squad practiced at a small rink right near the arena where the majority of the Olympic hockey events took place.
“We had to walk in 30-degree weather in our hockey equipment,” he said.
Noting that “Sochi is called the Florida of Russia,” Kincaid said the heat and humidity forced them to practice in the morning to early afternoon, after which time they would have a team event or the players would be given free time to explore the area.
Mostly, that would mean walking along the boardwalk or going to an amusement park next door to the hotel.
In the first game in the round-robin, the AJHL selects met Lokomotiv, the Russian junior champions.
“There were 5,000 people in the stands, Vladamir Putin [Russain president] was there for the ceremonial puck drop,” Kincaid said. “It was crazy. It is kind of cool and scary to be standing next to a bunch of Russian secret service with their big assault rifles.”
It wasn’t just at the opening game with the Russian president that caused increased security, Kincaid said, noting metal detectors and x-ray machines seemed to be installed everywhere, including at their hotel.
On the hockey side, the Lokomotive game served as a real eye-opener for the AJHLers’ as the Russian squad eked out a 3-2 victory.
“They were a lot bigger and a lot faster and skilled than we were. I think they had seven NHL draft picks and several players played on the World Russian Junior team,” he said.
In the next game, they played Sweden winning 5-4 before meeting Switzerland in the last round-robin matchup winning 7-0.
Due to the playoff format, Canada advanced to the semi-finals and played Finland after a three-day break.
“No one gave us a chance. Everyone thought it was going to be Finland and Russia in the final,” Kincaid said.
At the end of the first period, Finland led the AJHLers 1-0, but after the intermission, they tied it up.
“After that, we went on a little tear and ended up winning 5-1,” he said.
The next day they played in the finals against Lokomotive. where they lost 3-0.
Kincaid, who was the youngest player on the AJHL club wasn’t sure what role he would play on the team.
On the Kodiaks, Kincaid is somewhat of an offensive specialist who patterns his game after long-time Ottawa Senator and now San Jose Shark Erik Karlsson, as well as Vancouver Canuck rookie Quinn Hughes.
Although AJHL coach Boris Rybalka played Kincaid in all situations, he often found himself on the power-play unit, recording a goal and two assists in five games and was a plus two for the tournament, including getting a helper in setting up the game-winning goal against Sweden.
Kincaid’s goal came in the semi-final against Finland. “It was a nice back-door play,” he said.
After the championship game, they didn’t have a lot of time to absorb what had happened to them as they only had 20 minutes to shower and dress, before rushing to the hotel for a quick bite so they could catch their flight back home.
When they finally arrived back in Canada and Calgary on Sept. 1, Kincaid said he was exhausted.
“It was a tough trip when we added it up with all the time changes some of us were up for more than 40 hours,” he said.
From there Kincaid returned home to Barrhead for one day, basically to do his laundry, before heading off to Camrose to start the new school year and season.
“It was an amazing trip and I can’t emphasize enough how proud I am of the entire team,” he said. “We were only able to accomplish what we did because of how hard we worked, playing as a team and following our system.”
