Canada names world junior team
by James Mirtle on Dec 16, 2009 1:41 PM CST
32 comments
| Name | Hometown | 2009-10 Team | Pro status |
| Goalies | |||
| Jake Allen | Fredericton | Montreal (QMJHL) | STL '08 (2, 34) |
| Martin Jones | North Vancouver | Calgary (WHL) | LA '08 (FA/JA) |
| Defencemen | |||
| * Colten Teubert | White Rock, B.C. | Regina (WHL) | LA '08 (1, 13) |
| Travis Hamonic | St. Malo, Man. | Moose Jaw (WHL) | NYI '08 (2, 53) |
| Marco Scandella | Montreal | Val d'Or (QMJHL) | MIN '08 (2, 55) |
| * Ryan Ellis | Freelton, Ont. | Windsor (OHL) | NSH '09 (1, 11) |
| Jared Cowen | Allan, Sask | Spokane (WHL) | OTT '09 (1, 9) |
| Calvin de Haan | Carp, Ont. | Oshawa (OHL) | NYI '09 (1, 12) |
| * Alex Pietrangelo | King City, Ont. | St. Louis (NHL) | STL '08 (1, 4) |
| Forwards | |||
| Taylor Hall | Kingston, Ont. | Windsor (OHL) | 2010 Dft/Rep. |
| Gabriel Bourque | Baie-Comeau, Que. | Baie-Comeau (QMJHL) | NSH '09 (5, 132) |
| Nazem Kadri | London, Ont. | London (OHL) | TOR '09 (1, 7) |
| Brayden Schenn | Saskatoon, Sask. | Brandon (WHL) | LA '09 (1, 5) |
| Adam Henrique | Burford, Ont. | Windsor (OHL) | NJ '08 (3, 82) |
| * Jordan Eberle | Regina, Sask. | Regina (WHL) | EDM '08 (1, 22) |
| Brandon McMillan | Delta, B.C. | Kelowna (WHL) | ANA '08 (3, 95) |
| Greg Nemisz | Courtice, Ont. | Windsor (OHL) | CGY '08 (1, 25) |
| Brandon Kozun | Calgary | Calgary (WHL) | LA '09 (6, 179) |
| * Stefan Della Rovere | Maple, Ont. | Barrie (OHL) | WAS '08 (7, 204) |
| Luke Adam | St. John's, N.L. | Cape Breton (QMJHL) | BUF '08 (2, 44) |
| Jordan Caron | Sayabec, Que. | Rimouski (QMJHL) | BOS '09 (1, 25) |
| * Patrice Cormier | Cap-Pelé, N.B. | Rimouski (QMJHL) | NJ '08 (2, 54) |
As usual, Canada will have an exceptionally strong team in this tournament, and has a good shot at winning its sixth consecutive gold. With the event in Saskatchewan this year, Buffalo next and then in Alberta for 2012, it's going to be interesting to see how often they go to Europe in the future.
The world juniors has become so successful in this country, on the ice and in terms of profitability, that Canada really owns the thing. It'd be great to see more countries start to take an interest, but I'm not so sure that's coming.
In terms of this coming year's draft (i.e. you 'Canes fans out there), Taylor Hall is the man you'll want to watch. He has a chance here to solidify his spot atop the rankings just as John Tavares did in this tourney last year.
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Well, to be fair to the Europeans, this tournament was supposed to be in Switzerland, but they dropped it out of fear they would have ended up relegated last year.
Awesome to see both Jones and Kozun make it. Two guys who, by all rights, should have had indifferent WHL careers. It speaks volumes about the Flames/Hitmen organization and how well it develops these kids that both have not only forced the NHL to take notice of them, but now Hockey Canada. 7th straight year the organization has sent a player to the tournament for Canada, and 11th consecutive it has sent a player to represent any nation.
Flames/Hitmen organization
Kozun and Jones are both Kings prospects. If the Flames are helping them, then… thanks, I guess.
The West Coast is the Best Coast.
The Flames own the Hitmen.
SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there). Link now 100% less broken.
Haha, awesome, didn’t know that. Seems a little odd but pretty cool, too. So how do Flames fans react every time Ryan Getzlaf throttles Dion Phaneuf?
The West Coast is the Best Coast.
I’m the wrong person to ask that question; I root for the Hitmen and the Oilers.
Also, the Oilers own the Oil Kings. Funny, since they forced the last couple of WHL teams in Edmonton out on their asses. I guess the Flames’ ticket receipts for the Hitmen changed their tune. ;)
SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there). Link now 100% less broken.
The Junior/senior loyalties do make things interesting at times. I remember during training camp in 2003, Phaneuf was the third star, scored a goal and was a huge presence for the Flames in an exhibition game. He got a massive cheer from the crowd for his effort. He was returned to junior after that game though, and rejoined a Red Deer squad that happened to be in Calgary to play the Hitmen the next night. The very same fans that cheered him the night before booed him, and called him a pylon all night long. It’s all about the logo on the front of the jersey, lol.
The Flames need to be careful
They run the risk of incurring the wrath of Detroit fans who’d liken their ownership of the Hitmen to the “territorial rights” that made the Habs so good in the late 70’s.
A) Doubtful, since the Flames have drafted one Hitman in fifteen years that I can recall (the imitable Brent Krahn), and make no claims to the NHL rights of any of their players, and B) Junior sponsorship happened in the 40s, 50s and 60s, and all six NHL teams did the same thing: Toronto and Detroit made equal use of the system in racking up Cups during the Good Ol’ Days. The 70s Habs were arguably built on the remnants of that system (and Sam Pollock’s manipulation of the expansion draft), but equally so on shrewd trades and exceptional coaching.
The Flames/Hitmen have managed to maintain separation of church and state (under threat of heavy penalty from both the WHL and NHL, no doubt) for thirteen of the Hitmen’s fifteen years; I don’t see any problem developing here.
SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there). Link now 100% less broken.
Sorry, forgot one. The Flames signed former Hitman Dan Spence to an amateur tryout; he didn’t stick.
SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there). Link now 100% less broken.
The Flames also drafted Wade Davis in that 2000 draft.
And you are right. The Flames don’t interfere with the Hitmen’s hockey operations, aside from poaching the head coach this year, but they have put the right people in place, and given those people the tools and support to build a superior junior program. Shame we ran into a super-hot goalie last year, or the 08-09 Hitmen would have had an argument for being the greatest team in WHL history.
Wade Davis… he was pretty good in Kamloops as a 20-year-old.
Blogging on hockey at fromtherink.com
by James Mirtle on Dec 17, 2009 9:25 PM CST up reply actions
How much of that was the goalie and how much was just playing poorly? I thought they got awfully sloppy against Brandon, but never got smacked down for it, and by the time they turned it around against Kelowna, it was too late. Plus, Kelowna had their number in the regular season, too.
Too bad, though, because you’re right, they posted the second-best record in WHL history. That’s nothing to sneeze at, even in the loser-point era.
SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there). Link now 100% less broken.
4 players from the same junior club on the team. Unreal. Has anyone offered Bob Boughner a NHL gig yet?
One thing I noticed: Only 2 forwards are 18. The rest are 19. And the two that are 18? Schenn and Hall, who have very good chances of making the NHL next year (Schenn maybe not as much, considering LA’s depth). So there’s a chance all of next year’s forwards will be new guys.
Jake Allen is definitely the #1 goalie. He looks head and shoulders above the others in terms of skill and technique. Jones was the safe choice for the #2: not the most skilled, but a solid technical goalie who doesn’t make too many mistakes.
As for D: Ellis, De Haan, and Cowen could be back next year.
I don’t think the tournament is sold out yet, BTW. They’ve been painfully slow at releasing the tickets to the individual games level and I think it’s biting them in the butt big time. They were hoping Canada-mania would sell way more full ticket packages than the tournament has ever sold in a city as small as Saskatoon (and rink as large as CUC), but quite frankly, the weakness of Canada’s pool I think is detrimental to that strategy: sure the US is there, but that’s just 1 game. After that, it’s Slovakia, Switzerland and Latvia. That’s not a high level of competition. In Regina, it’s a pool of Sweden, Russia, Finland, Czechs and Germans. That’s a deeper pool competitively.
Hockey blogging can't get any flatter.
The game sheet for the Canada-USA women’s game in Calgary last night was pushing tickets for the tournament, so it definitely is not sold out. At the same time, I got my invoice for 2012 last week, so Calgary/Edmonton are definitely picking off the interested Hitmen/Oil Kings STHes early, presumably so they can be smarter about selling to the general public after.
Yeah, I haven’t checked Ticketmaster, but they only made individual game tickets available on Saturday. Before that, it was single day tickets. Before that, 5 day packages. So it took them a long time. This is a premium pricing event (heck the Latvia-Switzerland game is twice that of a Blades game, and sorry to say but it’s a lesser quality, and the Blades average 5000 per game), and at an arena that can now seat over 15,000 for the event in a city that has a metro area shy of 230,000.
Hockey blogging can't get any flatter.
My red seats are $1,050 apiece for the non-Canada pool and the medal round. I can’t come even close to affording that; hell, one seat for the tourney costs more than my regular-season tickets plus two rounds of playoffs.
SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there). Link now 100% less broken.
And because I love hate mail
I think this is the one year Canada doesn’t win on home soil as it’s a matter of time that they don’t. Jake Allen has been horrid for the Verdun Jrs. this season and although he may have the talent he isn’t producing this season. It’s not always the goaltender with the most promise that comes through in this tournament (Steve Mason over Jonathan Bernier). It could become a weak spot for this team.
Not to mention the offence looks weak this year as they’re going to depend on Nazem Kadri to have a breakthrough tournament to jumpstart the offence as I’m not too confident that Hall is ready to become the featured guy on the offensive attack just yet. He’s not a Tavares, Stamkos, and Kane in my opinion but I could be wrong.
I wonder if the States will finally get over the hurdle and win another gold as they’ve had some great jr. teams but never been able to get the chemistry right.
It's never about the eventual destination, but rather the long journey and its challenging obstacles that are presented and what it takes to overcome them, that makes the taste of success all the more worthwhile!!!
Kozun’s a guy to watch for offensive production.
Team Canada has had goalies go the other way, too. I remember that the stats showed that Kevin Nastiuk was the best goalie heading into camp a number of years ago. But he was terrible in camp and got cut, and he’s never been much of a pro prospect. It cuts both ways: sometimes the club is holding you back, and sometimes your club team is your security blanket.
Jake Allen, at summer camp, was the best goalie by a landslide. And I don’t see anything in his Q numbers (11-10-1, 2.66 GAA, .912 SV%) that suggest he’s lost his game. In fact, his numbers are stronger than Jones except in W-L record (15-5-0, 2.83 GAA, .897 SV%). They were also better than Olivier Roy’s. Matt Hackett’s look better, but I can tell you this: Hackett looked the worst in summer camp.
Hockey blogging can't get any flatter.
Kozun’s a guy to watch for offensive production.
This. The guy’s 5’8" on skates and led the CHL in scoring clocking around 2 PPG in the rough-and-tumble Dub before leaving, on a much less deep Hitmen team than last year’s. He goes to dirty areas and refuses to stay down when he inevitably gets bowled over. I think he may surprise some people who’ve never heard of him.
As for Jones, according to Guy Flaming of the Pipeline Show, he had a high-ankle sprain early in the season, which would explain both why he seldom played early on, and why his numbers are uninspiring, to say the least. He’s seemed much better lately in the games I’ve seen, anyway.
SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there). Link now 100% less broken.
This US team
won’t be as good as last year’s team, and that team finished 6th.(I think 6th anyways)
Although, to be fair, they had the talent to medal.
Kadri
Don’t worry, Nasty Nazem has it covered.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
by PPP on Dec 16, 2009 6:00 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Jones is a pretty good goalie himself if Allen fails. Canada may well be weaker in goal than in previous years, but the two guys they got should fare well.
Of course, as a Canadian, I want and expect us to win. When you strip the emotion and biases out though, it would be good to see other nations become a little more competitive in this tournament.
Allen’s been horrid?
His numbers alone put him in the top 5 in goaltending in the Q this year and that’s playing for a team that is likely finding themselves as a seller during the trading period (with Allen being the prime candidate to be on the move).
Have you seen him play? I just don’t see the horrid results.
-Kevin Forbes
Hockey's Future
On Jake Allen
I will admit that I have only seen him play once this season against the Olympiques and that wasn’t one of his best performances. I have based this on what I’ve heard from some people that I know that are season-ticket holders at the Denis Savard arena and have told me that some nights he can be spectacular and then others very Price-like letting in one soft goal after the other. It remains to be seen what he can deliver when it matters.
It's never about the eventual destination, but rather the long journey and its challenging obstacles that are presented and what it takes to overcome them, that makes the taste of success all the more worthwhile!!!
“very Price-like”
keep in mind that Canada won a gold with Price in net too…
I think any inconsistency can be shared equally with the team, considering the circumstances. I talked to him just prior to his departure for Selection Camp and he admitted as much. The team is building for the future and so some bumps along the way are expected.
Of the goalies making up the top 5 in most major statistical categories in the Q this year, he’s playing for the worst team. In terms of delivering when it matters, the last time Allen played for Canada, at the Under-18s his results spoke for themselves. In his words, that tournament got him drafted, which talking to some scouts, isn’t far from the truth.
I just don’t see any aspect of horrid results. He’s a top goaltender in his league, playing for a team looking to reload quickly with eight rookies in their lineup and he was nothing short of incredible when he played for Canada in the past.
I’ll eat crow if it comes to that, but Canada has clearly been grooming him to take this role since, at the very least, his inclusion in the selection camp last year and likely since the Under-18s two years ago. If they had any doubt, he would have played in the game vs. the CIS. And as much as it is a terrible argument to make, Hockey Canada has been pretty successful as of late with their team selections.
I just think until he falters, it’s hard to doubt him.
-Kevin Forbes
Hockey's Future
Season ticket holders are often the harshest critics. Hell, I’ve lit into every Hitmen goalie since I became an STH four years ago for one reason or another. Just part of being a dedicated fan.
(And I maintain that Dan Spence has all the puckhandling skills of Arturs Irbe.)
SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there). Link now 100% less broken.
And we are fortunate junior players never figured out Pogge has no glove hand until the very end of his junior career.
Not that it helped in the playoffs, anyway.
SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there). Link now 100% less broken.
Oh goodie. Again, we get to watch Della Rovere’s parade to the sin bin for dumb penalty after dumb penalty while Maguire continues to blame the international officiating…
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