He’s swapping out shades of red.
And come Boxing Day, Zayne Parekh will represent city and country as part of Canada’s entry at the World Juniors in Minnesota.
Parekh was one of two Flames prospects named to Canada’s camp roster, and come Friday, he’ll join North Dakota centre Cole Reschny in Niagara Falls for a 10-day tune-up, as Canada seeks its first gold medal at the event in three years.
Parekh, who has been sidelined due to injury since early November, recently re-joined his Flames teammates for practice (including at Monday’s morning skate). He says he’s feeling good, and he’s ready to represent Canada on the U20 stage in just over two weeks’ time.
“It's awesome. I mean every time you put that jersey on you feel a sense of pride and, you know, it's a special feeling to put it on,” he said Monday morning. “It's a tournament I watched growing up every Christmas time.
“So being able to represent Canada and finally get my chance in that tournament, it'll be fun.”
The 19-year-old is sure to get plenty of playing time, and plenty of opportunity to be one of Canada’s key contributors in the Twin Cities.
But for Parekh - who has skated in 11 games at the NHL level this year - the tournament is also about gearing back up for the second half of the season.
“Obviously it hasn't been the season I want, I think production-wise, it hasn't been there,” he admitted. “I think it'll be good to just go, build some confidence, play my game and just kind of have fun. Make plays and kind of do my thing.
“I should be coming back with hopefully a lot of confidence.”
