Team Canada

With so many skilled players to choose from (assuming the NHL participates), Steve Yzerman has his work cut out for him as Team Canada's Executive Director for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

Here are my picks for the team:

Forwards

Steven Stamkos, Sidney Crosby (A), Rick Nash

If Sidney Crosby is healthy enough to participate, there is no doubt that the Penguins Captain will be the starting center. I like Steven Stamkos on the wing, especially his off-wing, so that he can use his deadly shot coming off the boards. With Rick Nash adding some size on the right side, the first line will have the world's best puck distributor between two of the best shooters in hockey.

Jamie Benn, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry

With all three players over 6'2'' and 205 pounds, this line will be a force to be reckoned with. Jamie Benn has shined in Dallas, taking over Brendan Morrow's job as the team's true star (no pun intended). His physical style of play will mesh perfectly with the two big boys out of California.

Eric Staal, Jonathan Toews (A), Jarome Iginla (C)

Staal is a natural center, but Jonathan Toews is much better suited for the position. On his way to being one of seven players with eleven or more consecutive 30-goal seasons, Jarome Iginla will be the team's new captain. The two-time gold medal winner will be a huge asset in the locker room, especially with so many young guns. This is a very strong two-way line, but all three forwards can easily put the puck in the net.

Tyler Seguin, Claude Giroux, Jordan Eberle

Speed is the name of the game for this line of kids. Tyler Seguin could be the brightest young star in the sport, and Claude Giroux is reaching his 90+ point potential this season. Jordan Eberle could be a surprise pick to some, but the 21-year-old is on pace for a 36-goal and 78-point season on one the NHL's worst teams. Eberle is also one of the most clutch players in Canada's World Junior history.  This line will provide energy and cause a lot of stress for slow defensive pairs.

 Patrice Bergeron

I was torn between Jordan Staal and Bergeron for the team's last forward spot, but Bergeron's face-off ability put him over the edge. The Bruins' center leads the league with 803 face-offs won. This is a very important asset for defensive-zone situations in close games.

Defense

I want to stress that these pairs are not in any particular order. Drew Doughty came into the Olympics in 2010 as a bottom three d-man, but emerged as perhaps the most valuable by the final game.

Marc Staal, Drew Doughty

Marc Staal is a solid defender in his one zone, and can skate better than most "stay-at-home" defenders. Drew Doughty is a highly-skilled puck mover, and can be a one-man breakout. He may be a better fit with Dan Girardi, but either way, Doughty should be paired with one of NYR's defensive blue-liners.

Duncan Keith, Shea Weber

Former Norris winner Duncan Keith is very similar to Doughty in terms of his puck-moving abilities, but may be a bit faster and perhaps a bit less reliable in his own zone. That's where Shea Weber comes in. The Nashville Captain, who blasted a puck through the net in Vancouver 2010, is a force in all three zones, intimidation being his best asset.

Dan Girardi, Dan Boyle

My last pair of defense is made up of two off-the-board players for many in the hockey know. Dan Girardi is the NHL's new, top shot-blocker and one of the best in his own zone. Dan Boyle has Olympic experience, winning a gold medal in Vancouver, and is a strong puck mover and powerplay distributor.

Tyler Myers

Tyler Myers makes the squad in my last defense slot as a physical, smart and responsible blue-liner.

Goaltender

Unlike the defenseman, the goaltenders are in order.

Marc-Andre Fleury

The "Flower" is the most consistent goaltender of Canada's three best and also the only one able to wear a Stanley Cup ring.

Carey Price

Carey Price may be the most technically-sound of the three goaltenders, and could very likely challenge Fleury for the starting job.

Roberto Luongo

Luongo is a tremendous goalie, but even though he won gold in Canada's crease last Olympics, I do not trust him.

In the Canada-Russia World Juniors semi-final game, which was full of momentum changes, in my opinion was the turning point. It was easily the biggest and most significant reason why the young Canadians lost the match.

At the four minute mark of the second period, Canada was already down 3-1.Yevgeni Kuznetsov, who I believe is an amazing player, scored to pull Russia ahead by three. On the breakaway chance, Yevgeni made the Canadian goaltender Scott Wedgewood stretch wide from his right to left.

Wedgewood was low and unable to move faster than the shifty Kuznetsov, who put it by him. Two seconds later, Alexander Khokhlachev crashed the net, dived head first with the puck already in the net, and hit Scott hard in the head, knocking him out.

I really don’t understand how a player could do such a thing, without a penalty being called on the play after the goal.

A less-stunned Canadian team would have ran Khokhlachev, got there business done with him, and moved on.

Instead Canada, which was completely in shock, just stood there, and then completely collapsed. Over the next 22 minutes of the second period and into the beginning of the third, the red and white started to make foolish penalties.

They let Russia pull away with two more goals to lead 6-1.

With a bit of luck and pressure, Canada’s Dougie Hamilton scored. It went straight to their legs and heads. While playing real Canadian hockey, they scored four straight, and just missed tying the game.

Not only were the kids foolish in losing control of the game, they could have changed momentum with both a penalty on Khohlachev during a power play, and a quick retaliation on him to move forward with the game.

This isn’t just in international hockey; it’s in NHL hockey also.

Remember when the Buffalo Sabres played against the Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins?

Both the Sabres’ goaltender Ryan Miller and Bruins' left winger Milan Lucic chased down a puck near the top of the circle in the Buffalo zone. Miller got there first and shot the puck away. Lucic pretty much finished his check as if Miller were a regular player.

No penalty was assessed and Miller actually ended up with a concussion.

This needs to change. I know the NHL and other hockey leagues and associations want more offense, but what we really need is protection for its players.

At least if you can't bump a goaltender in his own crease to make it more black and white, it would be easier for the referees to call. If it’s more then just a bump, a hard hit, or the goaltender gets injured, then it should be even more than just a minor penalty (a double minor or more at the discretion of the man in stripes).

If not, I feel there will be more injuries to goaltenders, which are vital to ice hockey, as well as the players that take more aggressive approaches to the man between the pipes.

Since the Miller hit, the Sabres have been more protective of their goaltender. They immediately attacked anyone that touched Ryan.

In addition, the NHL has since suspended Jordin Tootoo of the Nashville Predators for hitting Miller in his crease, which by the way looked much less worse than what Khokhlachev did to Wedgewood.

Bravo, Russia. Bravo.

You managed to knock out Canada and hand them their second straight quarterfinals loss. Good for you.

Oh, and what’s that? Your friendly neighbors the Czechs kicked the Americans' asses? Wow! Great job, guys!

Okay, enough with the BS.

The two teams that met in the Olympic hockey finals are heading home from Slovakia without running over the competition in the World Hockey Championships. Big freakin’ deal.

Anyone notice how our starting goalie was a guy who also happens to be the backup on the Kings? Or how Team USA is sporting university players? Yeah, thought so.

No one cares that these two powerhouses were knocked out because they didn’t even come to play in the first place. Dany Heatley, Steve Stamkos, Tim Thomas, Brian Rafalski, Roberto Luongo, Ryan Kesler—I could keep going for a while if you’d like. Just a few names of guys who are North American superstars that aren’t present for the tournament because they’re too busy trying to win the Stanley Cup.

Oh, what’s that? Some of the best Czech and Russian players couldn’t make it deep into the playoffs? Yeah, sounds about right.

So, go ahead and cheer for these WHC victories. Go nuts over there in Eastern Europe. Take your Jagrs and Kovalchuks and enjoy these moments. We’ll be right over here shining our medals and doing push-ups so we can get ready to hoist the Cup.

Oh, and Russia, one more thing: I wouldn’t get too excited after you beat Sweden tomorrow. The Sedin brothers play for Vancouver in case you forgot.

Before the World Junior Hockey Championship was an annual event, it was a little tournament for which you had to rouse yourself out of bed at ungodly hours to watch. If you can remember those 1990's tournaments in Geneva, Gavle or Ostrava, you know what I'm talking about.

Team Canada was a dominant force in every tournament. From 1993-1997, Canada won five consecutive gold medals. Those teams were littered with stars, too; Wade Redden, Jarome Iginla, Joe Thornton, Ryan Smyth and Darcy Tucker were all fixtures during those years.

Then after 1997, something happened. Canada stopped winning. For eight years, Canada couldn't win gold and were kept off the medal table completely in 1998.  They took silver in 1999, 2002, 2003 and 2004 and won bronze in 2000 and 2001. For most countries, this wouldn't be a bad streak. Canadians don't play for anything but the top of the podium at this tournament though.  Never have, never will.

In the 2011 tournament, Team Canada just dropped its second consecutive gold medal game. When they lose this tournament, Team Canada fans revert to old patterns. They question player selection largely because Canadians are, without question, the beneficiaries of the largest talent pool from which to draw. In 2004, it was easy for the entire country to simply shun Marc-Andre Fleury for firing the puck into his own net with an assist to Patrick O'Sullivan's butt. Fans will also question coaching decisions, particularly if the problem seems bigger than just one player. In 2010, Coach Willie Desjardins was hung out to dry for leaving Jake Allen in after he battled the puck all tournament.

Some people will say there is no reason to panic. In 2010, Team Canada was one odd-man rush away from winning the gold medal in overtime. Last night, the team had the game in the bag until an utter collapse in the third period. They're not being outplayed, they're just getting bad bounces.

They're still losing though, no matter which you slice it.  You don't do everything right, and still lose. If that's true, it's worth examining two areas where Canada could stand to improve ahead of next year's tournament in Calgary.

Goaltending

There's an argument to be made that Mark Visentin and Olivier Roy took an unecessary amount of heat throughout this tournament. Ask yourself this though, when was the last time Canada's goaltending in this tournament was truly above reproach? For those who answered "Steve Mason at the tournament in Pardubice in 2008," you're correct.

Since that tournament, Dustin Tokarski, Chet Pickard, Jake Allen, Martin Jones, Olivier Roy and Mark Visentin have tended goal for Team Canada. Not one has done so without question marks surrounding them.

What is Canada doing wrong?

Team Canada prioritizes evaluation camp performance over regular season performance. Mark Visentin was the best goaltender in camp, and his regular season numbers support the fact that he made the team.

On the other hand, Olivier Roy's numbers shouldn't have made him a prohibitive favorite for anything. He made this team over Calvin Pickard, a goaltender who vastly outperformed him all season.

Goaltending is like politics; the bigger your sample size, the more reliable your performance projections will be. The reason that's true is because one or two radical outliers can drastically impact small sample data . One bad game sticks with you, especially when all you're talking about is two intrasquad games and a game against the CIS All-Stars.

In terms of goaltending, Team Canada is certainly guilty of trying to out-think itself.  Case in point, believing a hot goaltender in camp will carry that performance over the next three weeks. The nature of goaltending is such that goaltenders will often fight to carry one hot performance simply into the next game. In selecting goalies for this year's tournament, one of the best eligible goaltenders for Canada, Denver University's Sam Brittain, wasn't even invited to the evaluation camp. The best eligible Canadian goaltender in Major Junior, Calvin Pickard, was cut.

Calvin Pickard's save percentage this season is .922, and Sam Brittain's is .926. Olivier Roy's, before he left to join Team Canada, was .905. These are not small differences, and they were very much on display in Buffalo.

Many will ask what difference this makes. Visentin, after all, was in net for last night's collapse, not Roy, right? 

Okay, that's true. 

However, a goaltending change gives you the chance for a slightly elongated play stoppage. Dave Cameron could have used that after burning his timeout last night. He might have too, but there simply wasn't the faith on the bench that Roy could capably relieve Visentin.

Coaching

Up until the third period of the gold medal game, there was nothing but well-earned praise for Dave Cameron's coaching job, but after one of the most epic collapses in World Junior history, the recriminations have abounded.

If one examines Canada's five years of success, a pattern emerges in terms of coaching. Brent Sutter gets a "gimme" for the 2005 World Juniors because he was at the helm of the most dominant Canadian junior team to ever be iced, but he was brought back for the 2006 tournament in Vancouver. In 2007, Craig Hartsburg took over and inherited a team full of kids for whom he'd been the assistant coach the year before.

The two most recent Canadian gold medals are the result of different circumstances. The summer before the 2008 tournament in Pardubice, Team Canada took part in the Canada/Russia Super Series 35th Anniversary, in which Canada's best U-20s faced off against Russia's for four games in Russia and four in Canada. With the exceptions of Steven Stamkos and Matt Halischuk, the players who suited up in that Series suited up under Hartsburg in Pardubice.

In 2009, Pat Quinn took over behind the bench, but he didn't take over for just the World Juniors; he also coached Team Canada at the 2008 Spring Under-18s in Russia, leading Canada to a gold medal at a tournament not usually won by Canadians. Quinn carried that over into the winter tournament where he took many of the same players he had coached the previous spring.

The last two years, Team Canada has taken coaches of successful Major Junior programs—with some assistant coaching experience from previous Canadian teams—hoping they could repeat junior program success.

What Team Canada needs now is a National Junior coach, like Quinn was in his year with Hockey Canada; Denis Savard is currently available. If he were put in place for the Spring U-18 Tournament, he could carry over to the Summer Ivan Hlinka Tournament and through to 2012's World Juniors.

In the meantime, he could spend the fall helping Hockey Canada's head scout Kevin Prendergast scout the team. That way when the rubber hits the ice in Calgary next year, he will have a solid grasp on everyone of his players, and in quite a few cases, he will have coached them already.

The HSBC Arena in Buffalo, NY was a buzzing with jubilant Canadian fans as Team Canada went into the third period with a 3-0 lead.  Then the wheels came off.

Russia stormed back to tie it in less than five minutes and they weren't done.

Artemi Panarin and Maxim Kitsyn scored just 13 seconds apart to get within one goal. Just over four minutes later, Vladimir Tarasenko got a quick shot off to get the tying goal past Mark Visentin.  The Canadian friendly crowd was stunned.

The Russians completed the comeback with less than five minutes to play and placed a dagger squarely in the heart of the maple leaf.  Panarin shot his second of the game past Visentin and Russia was in the lead for the first time in the game. Nikita Dvurechenski thrust in the aforementioned dagger with just 1:16 to play.

Classless?

When the Russian captain Vladimir Tarasenko received the trophy, he skated past the Canadian squad who could do nothing but stand there and watch in what some have seen as a classless act.

One would say that he is a kid full of exuberance and I would think that initially, but his actions spoke louder than words.

As he held the trophy, looked at his team and made a quick dart toward the Canadians with the IIHF executives quickly reacting trying to verbally stop him, but it was too late.

He skated with the trophy high above his head celebrating in that overly exuberant manner that the Russians seem to normally do (if anybody watched Alexander Ovechkin celebrate in his rookie year for each goal you'd know what I'm talking about), and went right past Team Canada who were all lined up at the blue line because they were waiting to lineup for the handshake.

My Take

The Russians did not give up and they deserved the win.  I have no question about that.  The third period was hard to watch...real hard.  But in the end, the better team won because the better team played right to the last buzzer.

While the celebration that ensued was normal overall, the march past Team Canada was uncalled for.  In my eyes, it partially took away the respect I had for that Russian team as they indeed battled in this tournament and came back from deficits to steal wins from their opponents.

All I can say is congratulations, Team Russia on a job well done.  Enjoy it while you can because you can only bring back one player next year.

The moment Team Canada dropped a 6-5 decision to the United States in last year's gold medal game at the 2010 World Junior Hockey Championships, there was one thing on the players' and the nation of Canada’s minds—revenge.

It’s not often Canada loses a game at the WJHC, even rarer that they should lose a gold medal game, so Canada would have to be excused for hating their neighbors to the south.

Heading into the 2011 WJHC, the United States were prohibitive favorites to repeat as gold medal champions, a feat they had never accomplished at the WJHC.

On the other hand, Canada had defended its gold medal performance five times (2005-2009) coming into last year's final against the Americans, a feat Canada had accomplished on one other occasion (1993-1997).

While it’s never easy to win a World Junior Hockey Championship, one could argue that it is even tougher to defend the title.

So, with both nations tuned in for the rematch, it would be interesting to see how the Americans responded.

From the moment the puck dropped on Monday night's game, you just knew the Americans were in trouble. Canada dominated Team USA early on, leading to an early 1-0 lead courtesy of Canadian forward Curtis Hamilton at the 02:38 mark of the first period.

Hamilton’s goal was a sign of things to come for the Americans, as Canada would continue to dominate the U.S., culminating into a 2-0 lead by period's end.

Canada struck early in the second period when Ryan Johansen deposited the puck past  American goaltender Jack Campbell, who, despite his heroics, could not stop the Canadians' attack.

At the other end, Canadian goaltender Mark Visentin was solid, making the big save when he had to and controlling the game with timely stoppages and tremendous puck control.

Canada would go up 4-0 on a beautiful goal from Zack Kassian, who slid the puck past Campbell at 06:02 of the third period, just moments after getting released from the penalty box.

The Americans would fight back to make it 4-1 on a goal from Chris Brown, but it was too little, too late, as Canada continued to dominate the rest of the way, never in danger of letting the Americans back in the game.

For Canada, it was one of the most complete games they have played at the tournament—maybe Canada’s best game ever?

Beaten on the ice, the Americans then had to listen as the noticeably pro-Canadian crowd proudly sang "O’ Canada", which resonated throughout the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York.

Simply put, the Americans were not prepared for the Canadians. They were absolutely dominated in every facet of the game, and were out-classed physically, mentally and where it mattered most—on the scoreboard.

Canada will now set its sights on Russia for a chance to take back the gold medal they lost to the Americans one year earlier in Saskatchewan.

Canada defeated the Russians 6-3 in the preliminary round. As good as Canada was on that night, they will have to be focused against a Russian squad, who, given their struggles over the past decade (Russia has not won gold since 2003) will be highly motivated against the Canadians.

Check out my website at www.theslapshot.com for more NHL news...for Maple Leafs news, click here.

Until next time,

Peace!

It's a great night for a rematch. 

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better after Saturday's Winter Classic, we are treated to a rematch between Team USA and Team Canada in tonight's semifinals of the World Junior Hockey Championship.  The winner will move on to play the Russians, who dramatically beat Sweden in an overtime shootout.

The United States team is the defending tournament champion after beating Team Canada in Saskatoon to win the 2010 gold medal. The United States won group A with 11 points, earning a bye into tonight's semifinal battle.

Canada stumbled against Sweden, losing on New Year's Eve in a shootout. Sweden went on to win group B, setting up tonight's contest between Canada and the United States.

Coming into this matchup, Canada's Brayden Schenn has almost lapped the field, leading the tournament in scoring with 16 points (9,7).  His teammate, and Team Canada's Captain Ryan Ellis, is second with nine points.

The tournament's leading goaltender starts between the pipes for Team USA. Jack Campbell has an astounding 96.65 save percentage, giving up just a little more than one goal per game.

So grab a Molson or Budweiser, put your country's jersey on and enjoy what is sure to be another classic battle between these two teams. It will be interesting to see how Canada's high-powered offense matches up with Team USA's stiff defense. 

For me, it's USA all the way.

The most anticipated hockey game in Canada and the United States didn't take place in Pittsburgh on New Years Night. It takes place tonight in Buffalo.

The United States and Canada meet in the highly anticipated re-match of last year’s World Junior Under 20 Championship gold medal game. If it is anything like the game just played between the Russians and Team Sweden, it will be an instant classic.

The United States won the gold in dramatic fashion last year. Current Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson ended the Canadians run of five straight tournament victories when he scored the winning goal in Overtime, stunning the host country and the crowd in Saskatoon .

The gold medal was the first since 2004 for the USA and only the second in the history of the tournament which began officially in 1977.  

Tonight's game is a semi-final contest. The winner will play the Russians who just upset Sweden in an overtime shootout to advance to the Gold Medal game.

The rivalry between the US and Canada has heated up within the last year. Canada beat the United States in the men’s and women’s Olympic final. The men’s final ended much like the WJC tournament did, with an overtime goal.

The United States beat Canada in the men’s world junior final, won the under 17world tournament by beating Ontario in the final and won the under 18 tournament without even facing Canada.

The Canadians have finished third or better 26 times in WJC U20 play. The have won gold 15 times. On two separate occasions Canada won five straight tournaments, 1993-97 and 2005-09.

The Canadians came into this WJC tournament as underdogs, something that hasn't happened since the great Soviet Union teams of the late 70's and early 80's played. The reason is because the defending champion, The Unites States returned eight players from last year’s squad, including the gold medal game winning goalie Jack Campbell.

The Unites States have won four games, earning 11 of a possible 12 points their only blemish an opening-night overtime win over Finland, which earned them two points instead of three.

The American squad has not been as dominant in winning, as many expected. They beat Finland in overtime, 3-2, Slovakia 6-1, Germany by 4-0, and Switzerland by only 2-1. In four games, no American player has more than two goals, and the top scorer is forward Charlie Coyle of Boston University with six points.

The Canadians coming into the tournament were concerned that they may not have had the prolific goal scorer like they had on past teams.

Team Canada doesn't seem to be missing a beat.The Canadians have scored a lot of points in this tournament. Canada earned 10 of a possible 12 points in the first round.

They have huge tournament-leading stats, led by forward Brayden Schenn with seven goals and 16 points and defenseman Ryan Ellis with two goals and nine points. Canada has a player at the top of or near the top in every offensive category.

All of the scoring didn't help them win their group as Sweden did that in beating the Canadians in a shootout on New Year’s Eve, 6-5. Losing that game cost the Canadians a shot at coming full circle in gaining revenge from last year. The loss meant that they could only meet the US in the semi-finals.

As usual the game is bigger in Canada, not in my house but as a whole. Most of the fans in the HSBC Center will be wearing Canadian red tonight.

The  Americans head coach is Keith Allain who is the head coach for the current number one ranked college hockey team in division 1 play, Yale University.

Allain was born in the United States but his father is Canadian. American forward Ryan Bourque and son of Hall of Fame NHL defenseman Ray Bourque pointed out that the Canadians can't possibly be labeled underdogs.

"For them to say they’re the underdogs, I think it’s hard to be underdogs when you have 15 first-round picks on your team,” said Bourque. “Look what they’ve done in the past six years, winning five of the last six. It’s tough to say you’re an underdog with that.”

When asked about the  potential of the HSBC Center being three quarters Canadians fans Bourque replied, "It’s going to be crazy, hectic going through it last year in Saskatoon was amazing. We’re going to have a share of Americans in the stands. But to have that much red in the stands for Canada, I mean, you’ve got the border so close, that makes it that much more fun to play.”

I will blog this game live tonight for the Bleacher Report.  Please join me in a little over an hour at 7:15 p.m.with comments and questions. The game will be broadcast live on the NHL Network.

Sit back, relax and enjoy what is sure to be as close to an American-Canadien war as you will ever see.

One last thing....USA>>>>USA>>>>>USA

As Team Canada gets set to take on the Russians this afternoon, just about every Canadian on the planet will be watching. The World Junior Hockey Championship has become a Christmas tradition for many Canadians and, for some, is bigger than the Stanley Cup.

Canada’s record at the WJC is astounding. Since its inception in 1977, Canada has brought home a total of 26 medals, including 15 gold, seven silver and four bronze—second all-time to Russia’s/Soviet Union’s 28 medals.

Canada is the only team to win five consecutive gold medals, a feat they accomplished twice—1993-1997 and, most recently, 2005-2009.

The 2010 WJC ended with Team USA defeating Team Canada, 6-5 in overtime. John Carlson’s overtime winner will not be forgotten by those who donned the red and white for Canada last year, nor does it sit lightly with this year's team.

Canada’s rivalry with the United States (which is favored to win the gold at this year's WJC) is just heating up, but some of the best WJC battles were played between Russia and Canada, including 12 battles for gold.

Canada has a record of 7-5 in those gold-medal games, including three in a row in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

For Russia, a return to gold is a bit of a pipe dream. Russia hasn’t won gold since 2003, but they have earned three silvers (all losses to Canada) and two bronze medals over the past six years at the WJC.

Russia will be icing a team that features a number of former NHL draft picks, including Vladimir Tarasenko (St. Louis Blues), Evgeny Kuznetsov (Washington Capitals) and Maxim Kitsyn (Los Angeles Kings) up front, with Dmitri Orlov (Washington Capitals) heading up Russia’s defense, while Igor Bobkov (Anaheim Ducks) will be solid between the pipes.

Make no mistake about it, despite not having a large group of potential NHL players on their roster and struggling to go all the way recently, Russia is no joke and, given the history between them, Russia should give Canada everything they can handle this afternoon.

Bobkov has struggled with the London Knights of the OHL this season, but played well in last year's WJC, going 3-3 in six games with a 2.45 goals against average and a .930 save percentage.

Missing from this year's edition of Team Russia will be forward Kirill Kabanov who, despite his talents, was left off the team.

Russia will ice a young team, one that will likely feature a ton of speed, skill and passing—which is exactly what we expect from Russia.

Tarasenko scored four goals in last year's tournament and is widely regarded as one of the tournament's strongest players. Suffice to say, Russia will likely go only as far as Tarasenko pushes them. Fact is, this Russian club is thin up front and, outside of Orlov, their defense is lacking.

Canada, while not the favorite to win gold this year, will ice a very deep team that will include 15 former first-round draft picks, including Brayden Schenn, Jared Cowen, Brett Connolly, Carter Ashton and many others.

This is a hardworking team, one that, while not stacked as deep on defense as we are used to, has plenty of firepower up front and appears to be solid between the pipes with Olivier Roy—who is expected to get the start against Russia today— and Mark Visentin.

I had the pleasure of watching Visentin play against Finland on Thursday night—he played a solid game, had little to no chance on both goals he gave up and appeared unfazed when challenged by Finland’s top snipers.

Roy is also a very solid, well-balanced goaltender, who should play well against the Russians despite an extended rest.

It’s no secret that Canada feels it will be icing a balanced attack. Canada may not have one standout player on their roster, but they are well-rounded and feature a number of players who can get it done at both ends of the ice.

Brayden Schenn will be given every opportunity to lead this team offensively, as will Zack Kassian and Jaden Schwartz—who may emerge as this year's sleeper for Canada.

To be fair, outside of Schenn, Kassian and Brett Connolly (who has been nursing an injury), just about anyone could emerge as Canada’s hero up front, including the likes of Sean Couturier, Carter Ashton, Quinton Howden or perhaps Ryan Johansen—who has been solid for Canada thus far.

On the backend, Canada’s captain Ryan Ellis is expected to supply offense both five-on-five and on the power play, where Ellis is expected to be the quarterback.

Most of the heavy lifting will be done by the likes of Jared Cowan and Calvin de Hann—both of whom have been playing heavy minutes thus far, especially Cowen, who looked to be out on the ice all night against Finland.

Canada, Russia, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Norway will all be in the same division, which makes today’s tilt between Canada and Russia all the more important. It’s a tough division, featuring (in my mind) three of the top four teams in the tournament (Canada, Russia, Sweden).

Look for Canada to emerge victorious today in what could be a close game, or if Bobkov is off his game between the pipes for Russia, a blowout. I will go down the middle on this one and call it a close game with Canada winning by a score of 4-2.

Go-Canada-Go!