VANCOUVER — Girdwood's Keegan Messing wanted to jump up and down and scream when he got the phone call advising him he'd been named to Canada's Olympic figure skating team headed to South Korean next month.

But he couldn't.

It was 1 a.m. Sunday when his coach, Ralph Burghart, called Messing in his hotel room to share the good news. Being the respectful young man he is, Messing didn't want to disturb other guests.

"It was quite late, so I couldn't really yell or scream. I was so excited. I couldn't calm myself down. It was such a special moment. I was ecstatic," he said.

"Just trying to speak the words 'I'm going to the Olympics,' it still feels foreign coming out of my mouth and I'm waiting for it to hit me full on. At this point, it's a dream come true. I'm living a dream."

Given he first stepped on the ice at age 3, it's a dream that has been 23 years in the making, said Messing, soon to turn 26.

"It has been a long journey," said Messing, who is the first Alaskan to qualify for the Winter Olympics in figure skating.

Messing is a lifelong Alaskan who was raised in Girdwood, which is still his home. His mother was born in Edmonton, which gives him dual citizenship. After competing for years in the United States, he switched his affiliation to Canada in the 2014-15 season, and the decision paid off big-time at the Canadian national championships over the weekend.

Messing confirmed his Olympic worthiness here Saturday by winning the silver medal at the national championships behind legendary Patrick Chan, a three-time world champion and Olympic silver medalist.

Shortly after Chan won his record 10th Canadian title at UBC's Thunderbird Arena, he turned to Messing backstage and said, "See you at the Olympics."

Somewhat startled, Messing replied, "We don't know that yet."

The Skate Canada selection committee still had to convene to decide which two men they considered most qualified to represent Canada at the Winter Games in Pyeongchang. Chan was a shoo-in, but a case could be made for sending either Messing or bronze medalist Nam Nguyen.

Burghart said Saturday he had confidence his skater would be selected for the Olympic team given Messing had finished ahead of Nguyen three times this season — in Montreal, Japan and this weekend. And, Messing was the highest ranked Canadian man in the Grand Prix standings this season after Chan pulled out of his second competitive assignment to regroup.

Sunday, at the special Canadian Olympic Committee reception at the UBC campus, Messing was helped into the coveted 2018 Team Canada jacket by COC president Tricia Smith while Burghart looked on.

Messing is among 17 figure skaters on the Canadian team — two men and three women, three pairs and three ice dancing teams — who will compete on Olympic ice next month at Gangneung arena.

Burghart, who has coached Messing for 20 years, said it was a thrill to make that early morning call to his student.

"It's his first Olympics and a life dream. I've been at the Olympics as a skater myself, so for me being there as a coach, too, is pretty amazing obviously, but I was very excited for him," said Burghart, who competed for Austria at the 1992 Games in Albertville.

It was also announced Sunday that Messing will head to his first world championships in Milan, Italy, in late March.

With the three weeks of training time left before the Games, Messing and Burghart will be hard at work at their rink in Anchorage.

"I'm going to be working on conditioning, making the jumps a little more consistent before I go," Messing said. "The triple lutz has been feeling really good in the new skates so we're talking about working on that quad lutz once again and putting it in the program. The goal for nationals was to take out the quad lutz, skate a strong program to qualify for the Olympics and then we'll talk about going for the lutz (again.)"

Messing made a strong case to be on the Olympic team with two solid performances here this weekend.

He brought the crowd to its feet with his charming Charlie Chaplin long program, which included an impressive quad toe-triple toe jump combo, two triple Axels and some of the best spins on the planet.

On his way off the ice, Messing executed an impromptu, celebratory back flip, much to the delight of the crowd.

"I'm just ecstatic," Messing, wearing his trademark, leather cowboy hat, told the media after his skate.

Asked if he was thinking Olympics at that point, Messing said, "I'm scared to, but it's definitely creeping its way into my mind."

Messing said claiming the silver medal to put himself into the Olympic conversation meant "everything" to him.

"It means every day of hard work, every day that I didn't want to skate that I pushed through and took every hard fall and kept pushing my body to what I felt was the extreme. It means I did it," he said.

Messing's previous best finish at the Canadian championships was a fifth-place showing, but this season he was able to deliver better and better performances every time out.

While he's not sure he will continue to compete until the 2022 Olympics roll around, Messing said he intends to stay in the sport for at least two more years.

Why not? Like fine wine, he's getting better with age.