Moose Jaw’s Regan Seiferling had the experience of a lifetime before the Christmas break as he spent the past week representing Canada West at the 2016 World Junior A Hockey Challenge.

Seiferling and Canada West weren’t able to capture any hardware at the event in Bonnyville, Alberta, but the experience alone was something that the local product is focused on remembering.

“You get to compare yourself against the best players around the world,” said Seiferling.  “You have to play so hard in a tournament like this, you can’t take a shift, so I can take that back to Yorkton and prove that I’m one of the top guys in the league.”

Canada West finished the tournament with a 5-3 win over Switzerland in the fifth place game on Friday.  Seiferling posted three assists in four games during the tournament.

The Yorkton Terriers defenceman said he was very happy with his play over the course of the tournament.

“I’ve been getting better as the tournament went on, I felt like the quarterfinal was one of my best game,” said Seiferling.  “I’ve been happy with my play, I’ve competed well and shown that I can play at this level.”

After posting a 1-1 record during the round robin, Canada West suffered a heartbreaking 4-3 shootout loss to the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals.  The Czechs scored to tie the game with 1.5 seconds remaining in regulation after Canada West scored three goals early in the frame to take the lead.

“That was one of the toughest losses that I’ve ever had, you experience the highest of highs and the lowest of lows,” said Seiferling.  

“Going into the third, we were down 2-0 and we got two quick ones at the start, then leading 3-2, and then them scoring with one second left and losing in the shootout is pretty heartbreaking, but it’s something that we’ve got to learn from, you’ve got to play a full sixty there.”

Seiferling missed out making the team last year and he said pulling that Team Canada jersey on for the first time is something that he will remember forever.

“It gives you goosebumps the first time you put it on,” he said.  “You think about all the times growing up that you watched the World Juniors or the Olympics, you want to go out there and win gold and do what they did.”

Seiferling had five goals and 17 points in 19 games with the Terriers this season.  He’ll return action in the SJHL after the Christmas break on Friday, Dec. 30 when the Terriers host the Melville Millionaires.

The United States ended up winning gold at the WJAC, knocking off Canada East, 4-0, in the gold medal game, while Russia took bronze with a 7-4 win over the Czech Republic.