‘I gotta shoot more’: Canada’s Michael Misa aiming find his range at world juniors

MINNEAPOLIS — Michael Misa is used to filling the net.

The skilful centre finished last season with 134 points across 65 games in the Ontario Hockey League before the San Jose Sharks made him the No. 2 overall pick at June’s NHL draft.

Misa earned a roster spot out of training camp and then bagged his first professional goal, but suffered an ankle injury in early November that kept him out of action a month.

Now looking to help Canada capture gold at the world junior hockey championship, he’s still looking to find his range on the international stage.

Misa has registered a solitary assist through two victories at the men’s under-20 tournament — a 7-5 roller-coaster decision against Czechia and a 2-1 overtime nail-biter versus Latvia — as he works back from what turned into a long layoff.

“I’m feeling OK,” the 19-year-old from Oakville, Ont., said Sunday at the team’s hotel. “Would like to start producing more on my end, but I think that’ll come … just glad I’m healthy.”

Misa has averaged 17 minutes 35 seconds of ice time, mostly centring Canada’s top line with Tij Iginla and Porter Martone — both scored in the opener — but knows he has plenty more to give.

“We’ve had looks,” said Misa, who starred with the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit. “It’s a process.”

And while the trio of Gavin McKenna, Michael Hage and Brady Martin has led Canada’s offensive charge, it’s been a struggle for the other three lines to generate consistent offence and zone time.

“We all come in from different leagues and teams,” said the six-foot-one, 184-pound Misa. “We gotta find chemistry and ways to beat teams that have been playing together for a while.”

Canadian assistant coach Gardiner MacDougall said the country’s No. 1 centre needs “mileage” after playing just two games with the Sharks’ AHL affiliate earlier this month before joining Canada as a late arrival.

“He’s going to find ways to get better,” MacDougall said. “He’s got more speed and is handling the puck more. Those guys want the puck, have the puck. Give it, get it back. They want to be around the puck a lot.”

Iginla and Martone have combined for 15 shots through two games, while Misa has put just three on target.

“We’re being a little bit too fancy,” said Misa, who wasn’t invited to last year’s selection camp despite some gaudy offensive numbers. “Me in particular, I gotta shoot more … I think, just in general, we gotta shoot more.”

MacDougall said Canada, which continues to push to get back atop the podium after consecutive quarterfinal exits, allowed Latvia to protect the middle of the ice instead of probing to find weaknesses in tougher areas.

The colourful coach then used a Toronto Blue Jays analogy to explain what the staff would prefer to see in similar situations moving forward.

“They gave up (hitting) the home run for singles,” he said of Canada’s only Major League Baseball team. “And then when they got a couple of men on base, they hit the home run. I think (Saturday) night, we could have maybe made more single plays, made plays when people were open. But when you’re a skilled guy, you see the play that’s open and you think, ‘That’s too easy. I’m going to make a better play.’

“(The Latvians) probably played their game better than the game we wanted to play, but you find a way to be one goal better.”

Canada now turns its attention to a Monday tilt in Group B against Denmark following a 13-2 thumping against the same opponent in the final pre-tournament game. The Danes, however, played Czechia tough early in what turned into a 7-2 loss Saturday.

“That’s a good wake-up call,” MacDougall said. “The biggest game of their tournament — biggest game of their lives — is playing Canada.”

Misa, who had two assists in the exhibition win over Denmark, said the group will be solely focused on those 60 minutes.

“I don’t think anyone on our team should be overconfident,” he said. “They’re going to give us their best.”

Misa, meanwhile, is still searching for his.

SOAKING IT IN

MacDougall, head coach of the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League’s powerhouse Moncton Wildcats, is getting his first world junior opportunity after watching on television for three decades.

“It’s been really tremendous,” said MacDougall, who also had a long and successful career with the University of New Brunswick. “Just to see how Hockey Canada is so organized and the staff that we have and the talent we have with the players, it’s really neat to be part of.”

And he’s already left a big impression on the players.

“Great guy,” Canadian defenceman Kashawn Aitcheson said with a smile. “Super high-energy. He brings the guys together, gets them going. I don’t think I’ve ever met a guy like that.

“He’s one of the winningest coaches in hockey right now … he’s got the secret sauce.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 28, 2025.

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press