Michael Buchinger was sitting in his room at his billets watching some television when he got what was likely the biggest phone call of his life.
It was Team Canada calling, letting the Guelph Storm blueliner know he was invited to the selection camp, one of 10 defencemen vying for a spot on the team.
"That first call was to mom and dad. They've grown up with the same dreams as me so to get to share this with my parents is pretty special," Buchinger said after logging another boatload of ice time on Friday.
"World juniors has been a goal for me. I watched it every year with my parents and it's special to get an invite to camp. But I'm still far from actually playing in the tournament and winning goal.
"First focus is showing up to camp and making the team."
Buchinger will head home Saturday to get a day's rest while the rest of the Storm heads to Erie for a game Saturday night. Selection camp starts Sunday in Oakville.
"Obviously it's been in the back of my head, but when I'm here (in Guelph) I'm focused on what's been going on here. We need to get some wins right now and I think we're trending up ... it's just staying in the moment, taking it day by day."
Friday night Buchinger played what might be his last Storm game in a while, a 3-2 loss to the Owen Sound Attack before 4,500 at the Sleeman Centre.
"I've worked with Bushy now for three years and he's a fantastic kid with a great attitude and a great work ethic," said Storm coach Chad Wiseman.
"I've watched his development over the years and we're all excited for him."
Guelph is already missing defencemen Cam Allen, Quinn Beauchesne and Zack Sandhu with injuries. Buchinger could be gone for up to 10 games if he makes Team Canada.
"It's a challenge for us and guys typically rise to the challenge and it's an exciting weekend," said Wiseman, whose squad plays in Erie Saturday night and home versus Kitchener Sunday afternoon.
To help out the team brought in 19-year-old Adam Shillinglaw, who was at the Storm's training camp as a free agent and has been having a good season with Hearst of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League.
Shillinglaw got his first OHL point in Friday's game when he assisted on Gavin Grundner's third period tally.
Also in town is Kyle Downey, who has spent time with Windsor, Erie and Kingston. Still property of Kingston, Downey has spent most of this season with tier II Stoufville. He is on emergency loan to Guelph as backup Damian Slavik is off to Nova Scotia for the weekend to play for Slovakia in the World Junior A Challenge.
A game that started off slowly Friday night picked up steam as it went on, with the latter stages turning into a bit of a goaltending show between Guelph's Brayden Gillespie and Owen Sound's Carter George.
After a scoreless first period, the Attack led 2-1 after two.
Gavin Grundner forced overtime when he tipped a point shot past George at 11:36 of the third period.
In overtime both goalies made big saves before Servac Petrovski won it, entering the Storm zone then creating some confusion on defensive assignments by cutting laterally across the op of the face off circles before beating Gillespie stick side with a hard wrister.
"I loved our game tonight," Wiseman said. "I thought we managed the puck in the offensive zone as well as we have all year ... we generated a lot of offensive opportunities and played well in the defensive zone.
"It's one of those games that you leave maybe wanting more or feeling that maybe you deserved more, but that's hockey and that's sports."
Brayden Bowman had Guelph's other goal.
