'I gotta shoot more': Canada's Michael Misa aiming to find his range at world juniors

Michael Misa is used to filling the net.

The skillful centre finished last season with 134 points across 65 games in the Ontario Hockey League before the San Jose Sharks made him the No. 2 overall pick at June's NHL draft.

Misa earned a roster spot out of training camp and then bagged his first professional goal, but suffered an ankle injury in early November that kept him out of action a month.

Now looking to help Canada capture gold at the world junior hockey championship, he's still looking to find his range on the international stage.

Misa has registered a solitary assist through two victories at the men's under-20 tournament — a 7-5 roller-coaster decision against Czech Republic and a 2-1 overtime nail-biter versus Latvia — as he works back from what turned into a long layoff.

"I'm feeling OK," the 19-year-old from Oakville, Ont., said Sunday at the team's hotel. "Would like to start producing more on my end, but I think that'll come... just glad I'm healthy."

Misa has averaged 17 minutes 35 seconds of ice time, mostly centring Canada's top line with Tij Iginla and Porter Martone — both scored in the opener — but knows he has plenty more to give.

"We've had looks," said Misa, who starred with the OHL's Saginaw Spirit. "It's a process."

And while the trio of Gavin McKenna, Michael Hage and Brady Martin has led Canada's offensive charge, it's been a struggle for the other three lines to generate consistent offence and zone time.

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"We all come in from different leagues and teams," said the six-foot-one, 184-pound Misa. "We gotta find chemistry and ways to beat teams that have been playing together for a while."

Canadian assistant coach Gardiner MacDougall