Raiders defenceman Kaiden Guhle. (Lucas Chudleigh/Apollo Multimedia)

By Jeff D'Andrea

Guhle stuck in hotel room during Team Canada juniors selection camp

Dec 4, 2020 | 3:28 PM

Like any hockey player, Prince Albert Raider defenceman Kaiden Guhle is honoured to be in the Team Canada’s selection camp for the upcoming 2021 IIHF World Junior Championships in Edmonton and Red Deer.

But he never thought that would involve not being able to leave his hotel room for 14 straight days. That’s the situation Guhle and the rest of the players have been in since Nov. 23, as the whole team has been in isolation to address a COVID-19 outbreak on the squad.

“It’s tough. The hardest thing is there’s no fresh air, really. The windows don’t open, so I haven’t had any fresh air for how many days,” Guhle said. “When it’s lighter outside, it’s easier to sit in your room but when it gets dark out and a little more depressing, it gets kind of tough. It is what it is. You gotta best of it and try and stay positive through all this stuff.”

Guhle said Hockey Canada has done just about as much as they can to keep everybody busy, entertained, and sane during the two-week period. Zoom workouts occupy a lot of the mornings. Special guests like NHL players join the Zoom calls in the afternoons. Poker nights and other activities keep the players busy during the evenings.

“They do a pretty good job of keeping us doing things. We’ve got workouts in the mornings and we got other Zoom calls throughout the day,” Guhle said. “There’s only one part of the day where we’re laying around and not doing a whole lot. The other times, we’re doing a Zoom call. They keep us going with a lot of different kinds of stuff.”

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Guhle said he and the players get all their meals wheeled up to their rooms. The only time he gets to leave his room is to briefly go in the hallway and take in the plates.

“They order in food every now and then for us too, taco and Mexican on taco night, or pasta from the pasta place, or ribs from somewhere,” Guhle said. “They do a pretty good job. The meals are pretty good, actually.”

The one thing that the Montreal Canadiens first-round draft pick came to the camp to do was let the coaches know what kind of hockey player he was and what type of person he was off the ice. Not being able to do either has been frustrating to say the least.

“It’s been kind of difficult. I’m here to show what I can do on the ice and show them what you can do as a person. It kind of sucks not being able to do that. It’s been tough,” Guhle said. “Just not being on the ice period, being off the ice for two weeks is really rare. You don’t do that a whole lot. It’s been tough not being able to go on the ice and trying to make the team.”

Guhle said he doesn’t know what will happen after the isolation will end on Monday, and how the camp will progress.

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jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW