MALMO, SWEDEN—As a disappointed group of Canada’s top teenaged hockey players head home to their junior teams, a sad reality will eventually hit home for some.

The 22 names that became so familiar to so many Canadians will fall into the back of the country’s mind. Some will remain at the forefront of the national consciousness — forward Sam Reinhart and defenceman Aaron Ekblad are in their draft year, the consensus picks at No. 1 and No. 2.

And Connor McDavid will return to the Erie Otters, renewing the hype as the world’s greatest 16-year-old hockey player, at least until he turns 17 this month.

For the rest, we won’t hear of them again — at least on the national level — until they make the NHL. Some will. Some won’t.

“The higher the level you get, the pyramid gets thinner,” said Jim Hughes, the director of player development for the Toronto Maple Leafs. “For whatever reasons, the physical side of the game, the individual makeup of players, heights, weights, skill sets.

“This (world junior tournament) is just another platform for players to keep working on their trade and get to the highest level.”

Maple Leafs forward Joffrey Lupul remembers looking around the world junior teams he was on and figuring the entire squad would make it.

“Everyone was drafted,” said Lupul. “You don’t realize when you’re at that stage how much work is left to get from the world junior level to the NHL level on a day in/day out basis.

“Some guys make it the next year, some guys it takes a couple of years, then some guys don’t make it at all. It’s certainly a big step up to go from there to the NHL.”

Many from the 2014 team will be heard from again — next year.

The team can bring back up to 11 of the squad, although some for sure will be in the NHL.

The ones who can come back: Goalie Zach Fucale; defencemen Chris Bigras, Aaron Ekblad, Josh Morrissey; Forwards Jonathan Drouin, Frederik Gauthier, Bo Horvat, Curtis Lazar, Connor McDavid, Nic Petan, Sam Reinhart.

Of that group, Drouin is probably a lock to be on the Tampa Bay Lightning, while both Ekblad and Reinhart could make the leap to the NHL straight from the draft.

Canada will be able to ice a very competitive team that will bear the weight of high expectations in front of home crowds in Montreal and Toronto when the cities co-host the 2015 World Juniors.

“I think it is great we will be at home,” said Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada’s director of hockey operations. “We’re going to have a great opportunity, we’re going to have a lot of support and I think we’re going to have a really good group.

“If we are able to get a majority of these kids back, we will see what happens.”

Fucale looked like a rock in net, but when asked he said he didn’t want to think about next year.

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“We have a lot of work to do before we get there,” said Fucale. “No one’s thinking of next year. We had a chance to get something done this year. We had a chance to win and we didn’t.

“We came here to win gold and we finished fourth. It’s a little disappointing. It’s tough to swallow.”

Ekblad, too, seems a rock on defence.

“It’s a learning experience,” the Barrie Colts defenceman said. “For myself, we have to take that into next year if that chance comes again.”

Sam Reinhart said he’d welcome the chance to play again.

“You never know when an opportunity to play for your country arises,” said Reinhart. “It would definitely be an honour. You have to take it in stride. Each time you’re over here, playing for your country, you definitely have to learn from it. You have to be prepared for it.”

The true leader of the team next year could be McDavid, who became the first 16-year-old to make Team Canada since Sidney Crosby. Coach Brent Sutter managed McDavid’s time, limiting him as the tournament games became more important.

“He is a very important part of this program moving forward,” said Sutter. “He’s an exceptional young player. He’s a great kid. He’s going to learn a lot.

“I thought he handled a lot of things really well. I thought we managed it really well too. We knew going into it we had to make sure he got the proper experience, making sure we put him in every situation we could for him to succeed and be careful and not put him in situations we thought he might have a hard time with.”

As for whether he’d coach the team again, Sutter said: “That’s up to Hockey Canada.”

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