Brett Leggat is looking forward to the absolute best inline hockey in the world

After three years you are coming back to Pardubice in the net of Team Canada. Looking forward to your return to Pardubice?
Yes, I am definitely looking forward to being back in the Czech Republic. I had an amazing time in Pardubice in 2011 and really enjoyed the trip. The fan support that the Czech team received that year was electric and I´m looking forward to staying about a week after the tournament and enjoying Prague.

In 2011 Team Canada brought home bronze medals from Pardubice, how do you remember the tournament?
The tournament in 2011 was a great experience for our team. After joining the IIHF squad after years of being with the FIRS organization I was pleasantly surprised with how professional the tournament was run and the high quality of hockey that was played. Any time you leave an IIHF event with a medal you have to look back and look at it as a success. We beat two excellent teams in Finland and Sweden in the playoff rounds and were very pleased with that.

It’s been great time for both you and the team last three years. One golden and two bronze medals combined with two individual trophies for the best goalkeeper. What’s the goal this year?
Yes, we´ve been extremely fortunate to come back home with three medals in the past three years. It actually is a very tough thing to accomplish. I don´t believe too many teams have won medals three years in a row so looking back we´re hopefully going to use our experience as a positive and have another successful run. In regards to winning the goalkeeper awards it is truly humbling. With so many excellent goalkeepers at this tournament it really can be won by anyone. I think our defensive core (French, Henderson, Ross, Corbeil) had a huge part in assisting me keeping as many pucks out of the net as possible and the award would certainly not be possible without their help.

You will face Germany, Sweden and Finland in the round robin. What do you expect from those matches? Are you aiming for the win in the group?
Of course any round robin you enter you want to come out as the top seed to play the lowest seed from the other pool in the quarter finals, but obviously this year is going to be extremely tough. Germany, Sweden and Finland are all excellent teams with some remarkable pro experience so we will definitely have our work cut out for us and must be ready to play our best hockey from the very first game. I truly think any of those three teams could win the world championships so I´m expecting very tough games throughout.

The championship is a month away. What is your schedule till then?
Unfortunately because our team lives across Canada we are unable to skate together before meeting over in Czech. So I am practicing as much as possible and doing as much off ice (floor) training as possible.

Team Canada roster was announced yesterday, were you surprised by any name?
I don´t think I was surprised at all by our roster. We do have two players that are new to the organization so I am looking forward to meeting them (Draper, Rauckman) and seeing what they will bring to the team. It will be a great addition to have David Hammond back in the line up as he was our leader the year we won gold in Germany. Unfortunately we had another player in the mix who is currently with the Buffalo Sabres (NHL) who was unable to commit so that was a bit disappointing but I´m very happy to see the core of the team back that has had amazing success at the World Championships for the past couple of years.

On the roster there are many names that people remember from the 2011 World Championship, how much did the team evolve since then?
We definitely have players on board again this year that know how to win. We have 9 players I believe on the team that played in 2011 and I think individually the players have evolved to become even better players now. We have an excellent coach in Jason Stephens and nobody works harder than him putting together game video and strategies that vary with each opponent. I´m really looking forward to this year’s world championship as it truly is the absolute best inline hockey in the world.