Olympic Hopeful Montour Already On School’s Podium 

Montour, who is spending time with his family ahead of attending Team Canada’s camp next week, said he loved the Learn to Skate idea because he remembers growing up playing hockey at the school and wanted students from the area to have the same opportunities.

“It’s been great for them,” Montour said. “And they’re obviously excited to be able to have all of that equipment again.”

And he hopes to give them some Team Canada progress to follow in coming months as well. Next week’s camp won’t feature on-ice workouts and is more a chance for the 42 invited NHL players to get to know one another and coaches.

“The opportunity for the NHL and the players to be back in the Olympics is huge,” Montour said. “And to just be recognized and be a part of the 40 or so players going to the camp is also huge for me.”

Montour had his first international experience with Team Canada playing under current Kraken general manager Jason Botterill and president (hockey operations) Ron Francis back at the 2019 IIHF World Hockey Championship. But Montour played only one game before injuring his knee and wasn’t really part of the silver medal performance that followed.

It wasn’t until this past spring, with the Kraken not in the playoffs, that he got another Team Canada shot at the world championships after a stellar season in which he set a club record for goals by a defenseman with 18. Canada went 6-0-1 in preliminary round play but were eliminated after surrendering two goals in the final 2:17 of regulation against host country Denmark in a shocking 2-1 quarter-final loss.

“The results weren’t there in the end, but obviously you’re excited to play with that group,” Montour said. “So, I took advantage of the opportunity, and I thought I played well.”

Montour had two goals and seven assists for nine points in the eight games, tops among Canadian defenders, while finishing with a plus/minus of +5. That was good enough to earn him next week’s orientation camp invite among an incredibly strong group of defense candidates that already saw Cale Makar added to the preliminary roster and has Aaron Ekblad, Josh Morrissey, Thomas Harley, Evan Bouchard and Noah Dobson, among others, vying for spots as well.

Kraken goalie Joey Daccord was invited to next week’s Team USA orientation camp as well while fellow netminder Philipp Grubauer is already on Team Germany’s preliminary roster.

Final rosters don’t need to be submitted until January ahead of the mid-February tournament. So, Montour will focus mainly on getting the Kraken off to a strong start on an upgraded roster with its blueline bolstered by free agent signing Ryan Lindgren.

“For me it’s just about leading our team in Seattle and helping our team get to where we want to be early on,” Montour said. “And if that happens and they want to take me for the Olympics that would be fantastic, but there’s a lot of work still to come for me to get invited to that team.”