No doubt, Huska and his Calgary charges would love to be in the thick of a postseason run right now, especially after exceeding expectations and coming ever so close to earning a wild-card berth.
In all, he’ll be joined by seven Flames skaters at the event, including defencemen MacKenzie Weegar and Zayne Parekh - both of whom were invited to be part of Team Canada’s entry next month.
“There’ll be a lot of familiar faces. We all want to be in playoffs, playing playoff hockey at this time of year, it’s neat that the guys are getting recognized, and are wanted (by) their countries to play for them in the World Championship,” said Huska. “It’ll be nice to see some familiar faces over there.
“I’m really looking forward to being around MacKenzie and Zayne in a little bit different role than what I normally would be with them. It’s another opportunity to kinda get to know them a little differently, in a different setting, so I’m quite excited about that.”
Columbus Blue Jackets bench boss Dean Evason - a former Flame - has been selected as Canada’s Head Coach at the tournament, which begins in earnest May 10 against Slovenia.
Joining Huska on the bench will be Nashville’s Andrew Brunette and Blue Jackets assistant Steve McCarthy, who, like Huska, hails from the Kootenay region of southeast B.C.
Huska says his early conversations have him pegged for special teams work, with a particular focus on the penalty kill.
“It’s something that I really do enjoy working on, I’m excited about the opportunity to try to help this team do a great job on the special teams side of things,” he said. “Hopefully, we don’t take a lot of penalties in the tournament but when we do, I’m excited about the opportunity to have these guys kill it off.”
But in addition to the privilege of representing his country - something the 49-year-old did twice as an assistant at the World Juniors - this year’s World Championship also offers Huska the chance to experience something new: coaching in Europe.
“I haven’t had an opportunity to coach over there, to see how passionate the fans are on that side, to see the differences in the men’s game at this level,” he said. “World Juniors was a wonderful event, I would assume that this one’s just going to be magnified.”
Like his septet of Flames skaters, Huska is ready to embrace the World Championship experience.
And bring some learning lessons - and hopefully some hardware – back to Calgary.
“You’re going to have a long time to spend with some great coaches, meet some new players and have an opportunity to work with them along the way, and I think just gain some valuable experience,” he said.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to bring that back, and help our staff with the Calgary Flames.”
