Zach Fucale uses power of positivity as Canada concentrates on world junior gold

Zach Fucale spent a lot of time on the ice as a kid.

He started out in speed skating. After each of his hour-long sessions was over, he and his dad Jack would walk past the rink where the hockey would be taking place. There, standing on the tips of his toes, he would look over the boards to watch the play unfold.

Then, one day, he finally decided: "Daddy, I want to play hockey."

For Jack Fucale, who had grown up in Montreal as a diehard Canadiens fan, it was an easy sell. His wife Catherine, however, needed some convincing. When she eventually relented, Zach was signed up and started playing as a forward.

"He would automatically go and stand between the two orange cones the coaches put down and try to stop the puck," said Jack. "He would just play goalie."

The orange cones are long gone, but Zach Fucale is still playing goalie. On Friday night, the 19-year-old came through with an 8-0 victory over Denmark in the quarter-final of the 2015 world junior championship. It's his second year representing Canada at the tournament. There hasn't been a clear-cut starter for head coach Benoit Groulx here, with both Fucale and Eric Comrie both sharing the work.

In Toronto at the Air Canada Centre, it was Fucale making 14 saves in a very light night of work against the Danes.

"It's certainly not easy,” said Fucale of the downtime during the game. "You have to make sure you stay sharp for your team , you never know if that one shot is going to go in and change the game.

"You just stay focused on what you have to do and stay focused on the task."

The victory moves Canada into the semifinal where they will face Slovakia on Sunday. Groulx has yet to say who will get the start for that game. Canada has failed to medal in the last two tournaments and has gone without gold since 2009.

The biggest news of the night was the injury to forward Robby Fabbri who left the game in the first period after checking defenceman Anders Krogsgaard in the corner behind the Danish net. He was diagnosed with a high ankle sprain and is out for the rest of the tournament.

With Groulx switching up the goaltending, some have questioned whether or not Fucale is still capable of carrying the load for Canada - something he did last year in Malmo, Sweden. In Halifax with the Mooseheads, his stats had been more pedestrian this season compared to years when he was backstopping a talent-laden team, such as the one that won the Memorial Cup in 2013. After 24 games, he had a 3.20 goals-against average and his save percentage was under .900. That led to questions to whether the 19-year-old deserved to be here.

In typical Fucale fashion, he doesn't shy away from criticism and owns up to his play.

"Yeah, I had some bad games," said Fucale, who recently was traded to the Memorial Cup host Quebec Remparts. "That's no secret and I'm not afraid to say it. There are hundreds and thousands of little things that influence numbers, but I’m not afraid of that."

At the tournament the native of Rosemere, Quebec, has answered those questions. He's been strong in allowing one goal in his three games. After the game against Denmark, his goals against average was 0.33 and his save percentage was near perfect.

Despite his stats, the fact he didn’t start against the U.S. in the round-robin during group play led some to wonder whether he was bitter or upset about not getting the premiere game of the tournament as a returnee.

But that has never been Fucale's style. He handled the decision like a pro and praised Comrie's effort. And that's no surprise to the people who know him.

"He comes to the rink and he's always got a smile on his face," said Fred Brathwaite, Hockey Canada's goaltending consultant. "He always wants to get better and he's always analyzing how to get better."

Fucale says his positive attitude toward hockey and life was fostered at home, which he shares with his two sisters Jessie, 16, and Rose, 24. His parents made it a point not to talk about games or hockey unless Zach wanted to and there was never any pressure to play hockey for anything other than fun.

When the NHL came calling it was almost a surprise for his parents despite the fact he had been rated as the top goalie for the draft when he was taken in the second round (36th overall) by the Montreal Canadiens.

"Things like this, they never happen to you, it happens to other people – not the Fucales," said Jack Fucale. "When Zach was growing up and playing his hockey, we never had the NHL in mind.

"The NHL, the Montreal Canadiens? We couldn’t even imagine it."

It's a testament to the hard work he's put in to become one of Canada's brightest stars. As a rookie in Halifax he would be in bed by 9 p.m. every night, much to the chagrin of his then-roommate Darcy Ashley. He believes superstitions are for the unprepared, and he's such a chatterbox in Team Canada's dressing room, that his teammates bought him a roll of duct tape – for his mouth – as a Christmas gag gift.

"I like the habits, I like to keep the things the same," said Fucale. "But I’m not afraid of change. I’m not superstitious. I’m not going to go nuts if something goes wrong, I’m just going to adapt. I keep cool. I'm an easy going person."

And he keeps that same attitude when it comes to play with Team Canada. He says Groulx usually picks a moment early in the day when he and Comrie are together – like at breakfast – to break the news about who is starting.

"It's short and sweet," said Fucale.

It doesn't have to be a drawn-out discussion because both he and Comrie have the same goal of winning gold, regardless of which one of them gets the start. Fucale believes that as long as he’s done his homework – the mental and physical preparation – he’ll be fine no matter what situation into which he’s thrown.

"I always tell myself that if I do all those things, then I can be confident in my ability to just go out and play," said Fucale. "I can let go of everything else and just have fun in the moment and enjoy.

"That's the key, you have to trust yourself. You know all the work you’ve done in the past – it’s not for nothing."

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