Captain Canada: Sherwood Park's Kaiden Guhle ready to lead World Juniors squad

Kaiden Guhle skates during a practice at the Canadian World Junior Hockey Championships selection camp in Calgary, Alta., Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Kaiden Guhle knows letters don’t make leaders.

“At the end of the day, it's just a letter on your jersey,” he said of wearing the captain’s ‘C’.

“You're still a leader without one.”

Nonetheless, Guhle will enter his second World Juniors both wearing a letter and being looked to for leadership after he was selected as Team Canada’s captain on Monday.

Guhle learned the news via a video message from Team Canada alumnus Sidney Crosby.

“It was a special moment. Don't really get to hear from that calibre player every day," Guhle said Monday.

“I've been lucky to have some really good captains through my years ... it just comes with doing the right thing every day and being there for your teammates.”

The 19-year-old Sherwood Park defenceman will lead a team seeking to erase memories of a shutout loss to the Americans in last year’s gold medal game.

“It's very close to my house and it'll be so special. I mean, we've got some unfinished business there I think.”

It’s also the second straight year an Albertan has been named as Canada’s captain after Fort Saskatchewan’s Kirby Dach was tapped to lead the team last year.

He’ll share the leadership role with Edmonton Oil Kings teammate Jake Neighbours who was named as an alternate captain.

“He’s the right man for the job,“ said Neighbours of Guhle. “Leading by example, being vocal at the right moments, knowing what to say, saying the things that some guys may not like to hear.”

“I think that’s what it takes to be a captain in these short-term competitions.”

'CONFIDENT IN THE RIGHT WAY'

Guhle got a taste of pro hockey life this fall with an invite to Montreal Canadiens training camp and a visit to the team’s home arena, the Bell Centre.

“It's a massive, massive facility,” he said. “It's obviously a dream of mine to hopefully play there one day in front of a packed crowd and just feel the energy in the place.”

That camp visit gave him a first taste of pro hockey and the business behind the pro game.

“They go in the room and they’re all joining around and it’s fun and games,” he said of the veteran Canadiens players. “When they hit the ice, it’s business. That’s their jobs. That’s what they’re doing for a living to support their families.”

Defenceman Kaiden Guhle works through drills ahead of the 2021 World Juniors at selection camp in Red Deer (Hockey Canada)

It’s a business he’ll likely be used to before long. Guhle was among the final cuts from Canadiens camp after holding his own and exceeding expectations.

“I think he’s confident in the right way. He knows that he’s got things to learn, but he’s a great kid,” head coach Dominique Ducharme told reporters in September.

“A lot of people that had him on their team talked about … [him being] maybe captain material. We can see why because of the way he handles himself.”

It’s respect he’s earned from future teammates as well, including veteran defenceman David Savard.

“I’m really impressed with his attitude off the ice and on the ice and the way he prepares himself for practice,” Savard told reporters. “His future is very bright.”

While his hockey future is bright, Guhle, who attended an Edmonton French immersion school for part of his childhood, will have to brush up on his French.

“They talk too fast for me. I can't understand it,” he said. “I like to think that if I took a couple classes I'd pick it up again.”

'HOME FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE'

Montreal is the next step in Guhle’s hockey journey after the World Juniors and it’s a step he’ll take much closer to his Sherwood Park home after a Dec.1 trade from the Prince Albert Raiders to the Edmonton Oil Kings.

“It’s a great place,” he said of Sherwood Park. “I’ll call it home for the rest of my life for sure.”

Guhle is the seventh player in Team Canada history to call Sherwood Park home, joining a group last year that includes Blair Betts, Carter Hart, Gerald Diduck, Mark Pysyk, Sam Steel and former Oilers captain Andrew Ference.

“They've got good hockey there,” Guhle said. “They generate a lot of good players.”

At last year’s World Juniors, he quipped that Rogers Place was 10 minutes from his house, although COVID-19 precautions kept fans, including his family, away from the rink.

“That was tough last year. Being so close to home and not being able to see my family,” he said.

He’s hoping for a different experience from them and his team this year, including a gold-medal finish.

“Hockey Canada did a good job, making them a part of it last year,” he said.

“But kind of hoping to show them the real deal this year.”