TORONTO — Darren Rumble sensed the question at the very sight of an approaching reporter.
“Is this unusual?” he asked rhetorically, playfully cutting to the chase after running a dozen teenagers through drills at the MasterCard Centre.
Rumble is the head coach of Canada's under-18 national team. The squad opens its 2017 IIHF world championship round-robin schedule next week in Slovakia, yet on Wednesday he had barely enough players for a game of shinny.
For a workout at the practice home of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Rumble had only 11 skaters at his disposal. Five of those skaters had already made the squad, with the remaining six — all born in 2000 and thus labelled “underagers” — not guaranteed a spot on the final roster.