Riley Heidt’s hockey off-season has been put on hold.
Right after his Prince George Cougars were eliminated from the WHL playoffs with their four-game series loss to the Seattle Thunderbirds last week, the 18-year-old centre flew to Switzerland to play for Canada at the IIHF U-18 world championship.
Heidt had 14:48 of ice time but was held off the scoresheet Sunday in Canada’s 4-3 win over Slovakia as the Canadians improved to 2-1.
Canada plays Czechia on Tuesday (9:30 a.m. PT) in their final pool-play game. Quarterfinal playoffs start Wednesday.
Heidt, whose 72 assists tied Connor Bedard for first this season in the WHL, is ranked 21st on NHL Central Scouting’s final list of the top North American skaters available for the June draft in Nashville. He finished with 97 points, tied for fourth in the league.
Canada opened with an 8-0 loss to Sweden on Thursday, then beat Germany 8-0 on Friday.
