Jesse Drydak says his recent European adventure will help make him a better hockey player next winter. The Sarnia Legionnaire right-winger has just returned from the U-20 Three Nations tournament in Sweden, where he played with Team Canada. "I learned a lot and I can't wait to take it (that new knowledge) into next year,” he said Friday during a reception held in his honour at the Sarnia Arena. “The way the Europeans play, I'm going to put that into my game next year.” The Canadians found themselves facing a strong dose of jet lag prior to their first game. “Jet lag played a huge role,” he recalled. “There's a six-hour time difference. The night we got there we missed a whole night's sleep. You've just got to deal with it.”

The tired Canadians found themselves up against powerhouse teams from Finland and Sweden. In fact, the Swedes iced their National Junior Team, which included a dozen players who have been drafted by National Hockey League clubs. The Finns, meanwhile, had six NHL draftees in their lineup. Team Canada, which was made up of Jr. 'B' and Tier II Jr. 'A' players from Ontario, did not have a single NHL draftee on its roster.

On top of all that, the Canadians had to deal with the much larger European ice surfaces.

Still, Drydak was not complaining. “The experience playing over there was really, really cool,” he said. “It was different – the players were at a whole new level, bigger, stronger and faster. They know how to play on that ice.”

He noted the Canadians were able to hold their own in two of the four games, losing both by one goal. In one contest, Canada held a 5-2 lead before running out of gas.

Drydak, who scored 32 goals for the Legionnaires last winter, set up one Canadian goal. “I got one assist on the penalty kill. I intercepted a pass and put one of our guys in alone on a breakaway.” Unfortunately, the scorekeeper missed the setup and Drydak was not officially credited with the point.

Heading into the final game, the Canadians were distracted by word that a volcanic eruption had shut down air travel between North America and Europe. “I didn't think I was coming back for awhile,” he said. “Everything was completely shut down. The first time we heard about it was on a Friday and we flew out the following Tuesday. It kind of sent chills down our spines. We got thumped in the last game, our heads weren't in it.”

The team flew home in groups, with some still stranded in Sweden as late as yesterday (Friday, April 23). Drydak, fortunately, was with the first group to leave.

"We flew a completely different route, up through northern Sweden to Iceland, then over Greenland.”

The plane actually landed in Iceland, the country in which the volcano was erupting. “When we took off from Iceland we could see the big ash cloud flying towards the United Kingdom and Spain,” Drydak said. “It was amazing flying over Greenland. The mountains were poking right through the clouds. That was really, really cool.”