Canada's Toughest Test comes Tonight

Special Thanks to Thayne Hallyburton

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What was once expected to be one of the biggest games of the 2012 World Junior hockey championship has now become somewhat of an after-thought.

Tonight’s contest between Team Canada and Team U.S.A was billed pre-tournament as the game to see in Edmonton. Both teams were expected to be 3-0 headed into it, and the winner was supposed to get a bye.

What was supposed to be and what has occurred are two very different things.

The tournament for the Canadian side thus far has gone off as planned. They handily beat all of their opponents in all three contests headed into the New Year’s Eve match against the Americans. For team U.S.A. the tournament has been a nightmare. Hot goaltending, terrible turnovers and lackluster efforts have plagued this team from the outset.

We first got a glimpse at the American’s vulnerability after a first period that saw many turnovers and a close 3-2 score against a sub-par opponent in Denmark.  They did go on to blow Denmark out by a score of 11-3 but we saw a glimpse of what was to come.  The Americans then ran into two hot goalies in their next two games. Finland’s Sami Aittokallio(Colorado Avalanche) and the Czech Republic’s Petr Mrazek(Detroit Red Wings) were simply phenomenal in their games against the Americans. The U.S. outshot, out-chanced and out-played the Finns and Czech’s but lost both games by scores of 4-1 and 5-2 respectively.

Now, we fast-forward to tonight where two teams who are going in opposite directions will clash in what has become hockey’s hottest international rivalry.  The Americans are headed to the relegation round and the Canadians are off to the semi-finals no matter the outcome tonight.

Pride and bragging rights are what are on the line tonight; but these are 17, 18 and 19 year old kids and that is more than enough to get them fired up to play.

For the U.S. this is their gold medal and for the Canadians this is a momentum and tune up game before heading into the medal round.

For Canada to be successful they will need a good game from starting goalie, Scott Wedgewood (New Jersey Devils) of the Plymouth Whalers, and will need to get their cycle game going down low to take advantage of the Americans lack of mobility on the back end.

For the Americans to be successful they will need to use their team speed. We heard a lot about it coming into this tournament. It was said that this was the fastest American team ever assembled. What we have seen thus far is just spurts of this speed. It is no doubt there, but they don’t use it enough. The passes are too long and are cross ice. To create team speed the passes need to be shorter and the Americans should focus more on playing North-South hockey rather than this East-West style of play that we have seen through the first three games of the tournament.

My Prediction is a 5-1 Canadian win. The Canucks have been too big, too strong, too organized and too skilled for every team in this pool and I think they will show that against the American side as well.

Key Players Canada: Mark stone, Ryan Strome, Brendan Gallagher, Scott Harrington, Brandon Gormley

Key Players USA: Charlie Coyle, Brandon Saad, Jarred Tinordi, JT Miller, Emerson Etem

Scratches:

Both Canada and the US had issues with the Flu bug as U.S.A.’s Charlie Coyle played only two shifts in their loss against the Czech Republic yesterday and Michael Bournival of Team Canada missed Thursday night’s win over Team Denmark. Both will be in the lineup tonight.

USA: Derek Forbort (concussion)

Canada: Devante Smith-Pelly (broken big toe)

"New Year's Eve is still on"

BY: Thayne Hallyburton

“New Year’s Eve is still on.” Those were the words spoken by U.S. head coach, Dean Blais, following his team’s 4-1 loss versus a very competitive Finnish squad.

Blais wasn’t wrong, if both teams were to win out, putting Canada at 3-0 and the U.S. at 2-1 going into the match on the 31^st then both teams would still mathematically have the chance to gain the bye into the semi-finals.  Whoever won the game in regulation would then advance straight to the semi-final. If the game were to go into overtime, no matter the outcome, Canada would advance based on points.

The loss was shocking for an American side that many had deemed the favourite heading into the tournament, especially after the drubbing Canada put on the Finns on Monday.

“Sometimes when you see that 8-1 score, you think that we are going to do the same thing but you gotta give them credit their goal tender played well,” Blais explained. They got to the net and we didn’t get to the net enough like Canada did the night before.”

The Americans seemed flat out of the gate. Finland matched them physically with open ice hits and was able to math their team speed as well, something that the Americans were said to have more than any other team in the tournament.

“I just didn’t think we paid the price to get to the net. When you look at our grade A chances, we didn’t have 15 quality chances in the slot and those were the areas that Canada took advantage of Finland and we didn’t do it. We talked about doing it and worked in practice on doing it, but you have to take that and put it into the game,” explained Blais.

The U.S. will get a day off tomorrow where coach Blais is sure to put them through a tough work out before returning to action Friday night against the Czech Republic.

WIndsor Spitfires: A First Half Review

Special Thanks to Matt Dumouchelle

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With the Windsor Spitfires just past the halfway point in their schedule and with Christmas break just wrapping up, it gives us some time to see what has happened in the first 37 games.

MVP: Alexander Khokhlachev. The steadiest offensive player on the team, Khoklachev has produced 17 goals and 47 points in 35 games this season. His -6 rating is concerning, but this team has given up the fifth most goals of any team in the OHL.

Most Underrated Player: It has been a fairly quiet December for Brady Vail, but there’s no question his contributions this year have been impressive. Vail has put up 27 points in 37 games this year, having totaled 10 in 61 games last year. He’s also being used in a much more defensive-minded role – against team’s top lines and on the PK – and he has adjusted well.

Biggest Disappointment: Ben Johnson. He has heated up as of late, but did not score his first OHL goal until November 13^th. The Spitfires were very high on Johnson, who scored 77 points in 30 games with Calumet High School in Michigan and was just the second Junior to ever be picked as Mr. Hockey (the top Michigan High School hockey player), but has had a hard time adjusting to the OHL game. If you remove a flashy 6 game spread in November, Johnson has just 2 goals and 5 assists in 31 games.

Biggest Surprise: Coming into this season, Kerby Rychel had scored 7 OHL goals in 62 regular season games, this year he’s got 21 markers after only 37 contests. Rychel, who is on pace for a 75 point season, has been the most reliable offensive weapon Windsor has had outside of Khoklachev.

Players on the Block: I can’t say everyone, but close to it. Players like Chris Marchese, Brandon Devlin and Jaroslav Pavelka were acquired by GM Warren Rychel to be pieces for the future so they can be expected to stay put. If someone came calling for a veteran goaltender, John Cullen is available (but has not helped his own cause this year). Adrian Robertson would make a very interesting trade piece before the January 10^th trade deadline.

Key Game Coming Up: January 22 vs Jack Campbell and the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds. Campbell did not play in the November 13^th meeting, an 8-0 Windsor win.

Who’s Hot/Who’s Not: It has only been a quick glimpse, but Chris Marchese seems to be adjusting to his new surroundings quite well, with 5 points in his first two games as a Spitfire. Rookie Michael Clarke has only scored 3 goals since October 16^th, after scoring 8 in his first 11 OHL games.

2^nd Half Outlook: It’s the worst kept secret in the league that Windsor is looking forward to 2014, when the Memorial Cup returns to the OHL and the Spitfires will place their bid to host the tournament at the WFCU Centre. This team is rebuilding and it would be hard to see them get into the top 4 in the Western Conference this year. They will make the postseason, but more eyes are watching the calendar flip than eyeing a playoff run in 2012.