Many say there’s no such thing as luck…that success comes from preparedness meeting opportunity. And Saturday night at the 2026 Prospects Showcase in Abbotsford, BC, Justin Janicke was the perfect example of that.
Janicke wasn’t even expecting to play at all. Having signed a one-year contract with the Coachella Valley Firebirds in August, the Kraken’s 2021 seventh round Draft pick was at home in Minnesota in the final stages of his off-season training. But 48 hours prior to puck drop, he got a call: with Jake O’Brien being held out for precautionary reasons, the team needed Janicke to join the lineup.
“I hopped on a flight at like 10 p.m. and got in (to Seattle), and then had physicals at like seven a.m. So, it was a bit of a whirlwind, but yeah, I'm always ready. It's part of the job. It was funny, but a good story for sure.”
But that’s not where the good in Janicke’s story ends. Prior to Saturday’s game, Firebirds head coach Derek Laxdal laid out what the two games against the Vancouver Canucks were all about.
“For some of these players that are getting a chance to show what they can do…we talked about opportunity and taking advantage of the opportunity you have to use these two games to springboard yourself into training camp,” Laxdal said.
Janicke took the message to heart.
14:52 into the first period, Caden Price – who would later score a goal of his own – sent a long stretch pass from the deep end of the defensive zone up the ice. Janicke found space high in the attack zone, received the pass with ease, and drove to the net uncontested to score the first goal of the game and establish a Kraken lead the team would never relinquish.
