James Hagens is rarely frazzled. The 5-foot-10, 168-pound center with the effortless stride and silky hands is a human highlight reel. He can pass and shoot. He anticipates plays long before they happen.
But in November 2022, there was one thing Hagens didn’t anticipate.
He was in British Columbia for the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. His head coach, Nick Fohr, waited as Hagens finished media interviews. Hagens, who recently had turned 16 years old, had a question.
“Coach, what do I do if I don’t feel like I answered a question very well?’ ” Hagens asked.
Fohr pointed out that it was too late to go back and fix an answer. Still, the head coach was curious about what had Hagens getting second thoughts.
“The reporter asked me something about being the prospective number-one pick in 2025,’ ” Fohr recalled Hagens saying. “And he goes, ‘I guess I’ve never even thought about that as a possibility. And I don’t think I answered the question very well because it just caught me off guard. It’s just something that hadn’t entered my mind.’ ”