World Junior Thoughts

Well, there’s nothing quite like the World Junior Championships to pull a man out of a writing draught. The WJC is, for this corner of the blogsphere, the premiere hockey event on the calendar. Not only is it my favourite hockey event, I’m also the biggest Team Canada cheerleader not named Pierre McGuire. So with that in mind, some thoughts after watching Canada’s two pre-tournament games and their first round-robin game. Again, I love to love this team, so I’ll be very brief with the negative, and it’s all clear sailing afterward. First: the aforementioned McGuire for ripping the New York Islanders for their handling of Josh Bailey this season. I understand the point McGuire was trying to make, but if you’re going to rip the Isles for mis-handling Bailey, you can’t let the Tampa Bay Lightning off the mat regarding Steven Stamkos. Back in April I begged the Lightning to trade the pick to a franchise that would handle Stamkos properly, instead of putting too much pressure on a young man that isn’t quite NHL ready, and well, I’ll leave it at that. On the ice, I’m going to want to see a little more from three defensemen: Tyler Myers, Keith Aulie and Alex Pietrangelo. Now, I’m not Sportsnet so I’m not going to write anyone off before the quarter pole, but so far, of Canada’s eight defensemen, these three guys have shown me the least. And that’s it. That’s all the bad. None of them have been terrible, I just think they all have another level that we haven’t seen yet. Canada has a couple of young men in goal with impressive resumes. Both netminders are more than capable of taking this team to a gold medal, and there is little to choose between the pair. Let’s just assume they’ll be fine. I need to start in two very specific places with the good: Pat Quinn and Angelo Esposito. During the 2006 Olympics, I refused to cheer for Team Canada because Quinn was the head coach, and I lamented his selection as the head coach of this year’s WJC squad. But he’s got this team going pretty strong early on, and I LOVE what he’s doing with PK Subban on the power play. Subban was the seventh defenseman last year and became a focal point for the media. He’s playing a huge role with this year’s team, and his power play work may actually revolutionize the way teams set up their PP. Good on Quinn. As for Esposito, the TSN guys relayed a story quoting a head scout as saying he “wasn’t close” to making last year’s team. I watched that selection camp and he was, plainly, awful. And if I’m being completely honest, he didn’t seem all that great in the two pre-tournament games I watched, but he took his game to a new level in the opener against the Czechs. He didn’t put on an offensive clinic, and he didn’t ride John Tavares’ coattails to put up big numbers. He played really smart hockey. He was great away from the puck and looks like a pretty good penalty killer. He may not be the offensive player the world thought he’d be when he was at the top of Central Scouting’s rankings, but he may be a complete player now. The Thrashers are going to be very happy to have this young man. Colten Teubert and Thomas Hickey are a fantastic first defense pairing, and will make the Los Angeles Kings very happy down the road. I can’t say enough about Teubert’s play so far, and the superlatives will continue to rain on this young man as the tournament rolls on. Both of these guys should be in the running for best defenseman and/or tournament all star honours. The aforementioned Subban may end up being Canada’s most important player. If Stefan Della Rovere’s injury is more serious than the team is letting on, Subban will move to forward. Subban is a wonderful junior player, and a great player to root for. So far he’s been steady-as-she-goes at the tournament, and there’s no sign of slowing. His partner in the Czech game was Cody Goloubef, who looked good. The old adage says an announcer will rarely call a good defenseman’s name, and that was the case with Goloubef in Canada’s opener. He plays a simple, strong game and looks like a good partner for Subban. Last up is Ryan Ellis, the draft-eligible youngster from the Ontario League. Although he’s played mostly in power play situations, Ellis has shown he’s very capable five-on-five. I would not be surprised to see Ellis take on more responsibility as this tournament progresses. He seems to have great hockey sense and always seems to know where either he or the puck should be at all times. There are some grumblings about Tavares’ lack of even-strength production so far, Ellis could be the guy that can kick-start Canadian rushes and get Tavares going at even strength. That said, he’s small. And he’s been pushed around quite a bit so far. I don’t want him on the ice killing a penalty in the last minute of the gold-medal game, but he’s more than capable of playing a regular shift. Up front things look great. Tavares seems to really be clicking with Esposito on his wing, which Chris DiDomenico looks like a nice complementary player on that line. Again, there are worries about the even-strength production this line hasn’t been bringing but until the knock-out stage, it’s a non-issue. The second and third lines are the reason a lack of production from Tavares’ line is a non-issue right now. Cody Hodgson is playing at an extraordinary level right now and he’s making great things happen on the ice. He’s been spectacular on the power play, playing with Tavares, and he’s been very good at even strength playing with Zach Boychuk and Jordan Eberle. They’re a great line and they seem to make a special play of play, or make a “wow” happen every time they’re on the ice. I’ll agree with McGuire on Eberle though: Jordan shoot the puck more! The third line with Jamie Benn, Brett Sonne and Tyler Ennis could be the difference between a medal and a disappointing end for Canada. So far they’ve clicked and they’re producing in five-on-five situations, and if Ennis continues to play the way he did in the opener, this line will command more ice time. Lord knows I’ll be making a point to see Benn’s Kelowna Rockets and Ennis’ Medicine Hat Tigers whenever they’re back in Calgary this season. This line is capable of an offensive explosion, Canada has to hope it comes at the right time. The fourth line of Della Rovere, Patrice Cormier and Evander Kane (Canada’s other draft-eligible player) has also played well. Della Rovere ran right alongside the injured Dana Tyrell in trying to set the physical tone early in the pre-tournament games, and plays a strong defensive game. If his injury is long term, he’ll surely be missed. Logic dictates Canada should hold him out of the lineup until at least the New Year’s Eve game to let him heal. Cormier and Kane haven’t set highlight reels abuzz just yet, but Cormier is the best defensive forward on the team and Kane appears to be very versatile. Once he gets his legs under him, he could move to the top line with Tavares. There is a lot to like about this team, and frankly, I’m not buying the talk that Canada shouldn’t be/isn’t the favourite in this tournament. Top to bottom this is the deepest, most complete team in the tournament. Every forward seems to have the versatility to play in any situation in all three zones, and the defensemen have the ability to move the puck so well, this team’s transition game will be very tough to stop. And the poor Czechs got a taste of the Canadian power play. It’s still early, and we can’t count anyone out of this tournament yet, but for my money, Canada has clearly moved to the front of the pack.