If you've been reading the interviews we have conducted with Mr. Cheezy it is quite evident that the sports Press and Thicc Cheezy have a....rocky relationship at best.....and a downright hatred for one another at worst. And that's why I wanted so badly to be able to title this article "Thicc Cheezy Shines at WJC", but unfortunately that would require me to be a dishonest sports journalist. And that's just not me. Knowing he was going to be playing on the third line for Canada heading into the tournament Cheezy was saying all the right things: "This tournament is going to be a great opportunity for me to really see where I am at compared to last year, I've put a lot of work in the gym this offseason and I'm excited to see my results. Obviously playoffs did not go the way I wanted them to last year and I've been able to work on my skills with a little bit of a chip on my shoulder."

He had put in a lot of work, but it is simply not enough. Playing on a line with Leonid Kofix and First-Name Last-Name Thicc Cheezy was undoubtedly a step behind. 6 points in 16 games in the tournament heading into the Medal round has him as the player with the least amount of points on his line. The frustration goes deeper than lack of points, we were able to catch up with Team Canada's coach and he had this to say "Well, its his first tournament. He's still a young player and he needs to learn alot of things, he will be better I'm sure as time goes on. But right now I find myself pulling my hair out every time he is on the ice, he's constantly out of position, he doesn't seem to listen to my constructive criticism and yet he had the nerve to ask me why he was only on the third line heading into the tournament. He's got a lot of growing up to do if he wants to be successful at any significant level." Coach went on "The kid has an ego, and sometimes that's not a bad thing. But when it gets in the way of learning and seeing your own flaws then it is a bad thing. He needs to get humble, and quick because time is running out."

In our experience with Thicc here at the Halifax sports Press probably indicates - we could not agree with that sentiment more. Thicc is a talented player, who seems to be getting better at Media and maybe portraying a more humble personality in front of the cameras, but clearly can still be a problem behind closed doors. We were able to catch up with him heading into the Medal round of the tournament and here is what he had to say about his play:

"I think I've been good, I'm definitely not putting up the points I think I could get but it's the little things you gotta look at too. My positioning has improved from last season and I certainly don't feel out of place here in a tournament against the best of the best. I really think Halifax is going to have something special with me this year, I'm a better player than I've ever been."

Quite the contrasting quotes between coach and player, we will catch up with Cheeze at the end of the tournament to get more of an in depth idea of what exactly is going through his head, because clearly he is not hearing the messages he needs to be hearing.






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