The World Juniors is a yearly event where Canadians get to see the future of the nation go against the best nations in hockey. Usually, those who are selected to be part of the final roster are filled with players who were recently drafted or players who would go high in the draft. The expected number one draft in 2024, Macklin Celebrini is an example of that. However, there is a player who isn’t drafted or expected to make the draft this season. This is how Owen Allard made an unexpected appearance in this World Juniors.
Allard was born in Renfrew, Ontario. He was drafted from the Kanata Lasers in the seventh round of the 2020 OHL draft. But because of the COVID year in the OHL, he went to play a few games in France for a team called Caen. But it wasn’t until the 2021-22 season that he would finally be able to join the OHL as part of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
His first season wasn’t anything to write home about. In 66 games with the Greyhounds, he had 14 goals and 10 assists. While it was a great rookie season, it wasn’t enough to convince scouts and teams to draft the forward in that year’s draft.
The next year wasn’t going to be a highlight either as Allard would only play 14 games and got 7 points in that time. The story would be the same when draft night came and he wouldn’t be selected.
What Allard wouldn’t know is that he was about to enter the season that would change his career forever. So far, the 2023-24 season has been outstanding. He has played 29 games for the Greyhounds so far this year and he has just a little over a point-per-game.
Allard would be invited to the tryouts for the Canadian World Junior team. Unlike a lot of players who joined the tryouts, he never had any Team Canada history. Despite him having a stellar year in the OHL it still seemed like a long shot he would be able to wear the white and red.
But Allard would soon get the notice that he had a spot in this year’s World Juniors team. He was going to Gothenburg to represent Team Canada with some of the future stars from the country.
And he made sure everyone knew that he belonged there.
Despite only having two goals in this tournament, Allard had been a strong presence on the Canadian team as a strong forward. It made it even better than Canada’s struggling offense had made him more noticeable in the tournament.
But Canada fell out of the tournament against Czechia in the quarterfinals and so there were only five games played for the Canadian squad. Despite the disappointment, this tournament has given Allard a gateway into finally breaking through next year and maybe finally getting drafted to an NHL team.
This tournament has shown that Allard has been growing and even though he didn’t have the easy way to the tournament, he still found his way.