THUNDER BAY – Matt Murray won’t be the only Thunder Bay netminder seeking World Hockey Championship gold.
Mackenzie Blackwood, who earlier this season made his National Hockey League debut with the New Jersey Devils, on Wednesday confirmed he’ll make the trek to Slovakia, his first international experience with Team Canada since suiting up at the 2016 World Junior Hockey Championship.
The 22-year-old rookie said the invite caught him by surprise, despite a stellar freshman campaign that saw him post a 10-10-0 record with a 2.61 goals against average and an impressive .918 save percentage after getting a mid-season recall following an injury to starter Cory Schneider.
Blackwood also recorded back-to-back shutouts in his third and fourth big-league starts, quickly catching the attention of the hockey world.
Blackwood, during an autograph-signing session with Buffalo Sabres starter Carter Hutton at Fort William Gardens as part of the TELUS Cup festivities in his Northern Ontario hometown, said he’s excited to head to Slovakia, where he’ll join Murray and Philadelphia goaltender Carter Hart between pipes for Team Canada.
“It’s pretty cool to be recognized for that. It’s definitely exciting. We’re heading over there on May 2, so that’ll be another cool thing to put in my cap for the summer,” Blackwood said.
It’s been a whirlwind five months since making his NHL debut against Toronto on Dec. 18.
“I wasn’t expecting it to happen so fast. But when it happens you just try to make the most of it and run with it when you can. It was a pretty cool experience and something I’ll probably never forget,” Blackwood said.
Drafted by the Devils in the second round, 42nd overall, in 2015 from the Ontario Hockey League’s Barrie Colts, Blackwood languished in the minors for two full seasons, mostly in the American Hockey League.
Unlike Murray, who set the loop on fire before debuting with the Pittsburgh Penguins a few years earlier, the Devils actually demoted him to the ECHL at one point, a chance to get his game back on track.
He actually performed better in the NHL than he did in Binghamton in 2018-19.
“It was a little bit of a bumpy road up to it, but when I got the call I thought this is it, you can kind of make or break yourself. I just tried to take it in stride, take it one day at a time and worked as hard as I could when I was there and tried to perform,” he said.
“Things worked out and just hopefully we can keep it going.”
The back-to-back shutouts, against Carolina and Vancouver, even surprised Blackwood himself.
“I didn’t really expect to get two shutouts in a row, but once I got in there it was more about I wanted to play good, I wanted to play my game and do the best that I can. Things sort of fell into place a bit for me there,” he said.
Although the Devils missed the playoffs, Blackwood, who earned full-time status when New Jersey dealt Keith Kinkaid at the trade deadline, said he thinks the team has a bright future. With No. 1 picks Taylor Hall and Nico Hischier in the fold and having won the draft lottery and the rights to select American phenom Jack Hughes with the top pick, the team could be sitting pretty, he said.
“I truly believe in the next couple of years we’re going to have a great team, especially with the No. 1 pick again. With Hall, Hischier and whoever they take this year, they’ll have three first overall picks in the lineup. It’s just an exciting organization to be a part of right now.”
