The final cuts have been made, and really only a few surprises for me. With the exception of Devante Smith-Pelly and Brett Connolly, from the NHL, and Jaden Schwartz from Colorado College, the rest of the 22-man roster is composed entirely of CHL players. The same group you’ll see if you tune into Friday Night Hockey, weekly on Sportsnet.
What’s important to note is that Don Hay has stressed that his selections are the 22 best players for the team, not necessarily the 22 best individual players.
As I predicted when this camp started, Plymouth’s Scott Wedgewood played himself onto this team, and I believe he will play meaningful games for Canada before it’s all said and done. His demeanor is just perfect. Not bad for a guy who didn’t start playing goal until he was 11 years old, and never really had professional goalie training until he was 15.
Defensively, many will question the release of Kitchener’s Ryan Murphy. My theory on Murphy is that the defencemen were told to take care of their own end first and then worry about playing offence later, and quite frankly, that’s not Murphy’s forte. I really think the value in a player of Murphy’s all-world ability is letting him run wild. — if you let him rush the puck ten times, he might score on five of them and give up five 2-on-1’s the other way.
He’s very high-risk, high-reward and while that plays well in the OHL, and will certainly be a great asset at the NHL level, it just doesn’t jive into a Don Hay-coached team. Right from day one of camp it looked as if Murphy had chains on and he didn’t look like the guy I see regularly with Kitchener. I knew it would be an uphill battle for him at this camp. The last time he was cut from a Hockey Canada team, he played the way he’s capable of, yet the U-18 team of 2010 went on to win gold. Hard to argue with a gold medal.
Scott Harrington and Dougie Hamilton have paired to play a shut-down role for Canada in the past, and may be required to do so again. One thing is clearly evident with this group: they will take care of their own end first.
In the event instant offense is required, Nathan Beaulieu will be called upon to provide that. But don’t sleep on Beaulieu as an all-around guy. It may look a little bit like 2009 when Ryan Ellis was chosen as the seventh defenceman specifically for powerplay usage, yet ended up in all situations and was arguably Canada’s best defenceman in winning gold in Ottawa.
What may happen is Harrington and 6-foot-7 Saginaw D-man Jamie Oleksiak, who pledged his hockey-playing citizenship to the red and white this summer, will be the shut-down duo.
Without a returnee on the back-end, Brandon Gormley will most likely wear a letter for his leadership skills. He’s well-liked, mature beyond his age and has a really nice way of playing the go-to between the coaching staff and the players. If he had not gotten hurt last year, he would’ve made the club. In my mind Gormley was at his best in the 2010 Mastercard Memorial Cup, playing a simple game, defending well, making good first-passes and skating the puck out when that was the only option.
Don’t look for Gormley to be a point leader on D, but he’ll be steady. And most likely, he’ll be dealt at some point before this tournament is over. Look for Shawinigan or Victoriaville as likely destinations. Here’s hoping that won’t take away from his focus on the WJHC. Knowing Gormley as I do, I don’t think he’ll get rattled if the deal is done before the tournament ends.
Ryan Murray will be the top defender for this team, and when he gets supremely confident that his high-ankle sprain is completely healed, look out, he’ll remind you of Nicklas Lidstrom.
Up front, scoring is a concern. No-doubt this coaching staff will be scrutinized for not selecting the OHL and the WHL’s leading goal scorers Tyler Toffoli and Ty Rattie, who have combined to score 59 goals. Rattie wasn’t much of a factor during camp, and Toffoli’s final night effort of two goals fell just a little short.
Let’s remember the three best junior-aged Canadian centres are playing in the NHL (Sean Couturier, Ryan Johansen and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins). This club will need Jonathan Huberdeau and Quinton Howden to be healthy to help ease those concerns, and I believe by Boxing Day they’ll be ready to go.
Mark Scheifele, and Ryan Strome will centre the top two lines. Strome will need to find his 2010-11 game to be at his best. Michael Bournival has it in him to provide offence as the third-line centre, while Boone Jenner will play the pain-in-the-butt role as a fourth liner. His physical play and max effort will endear him to many Canadian fans, and I think he wants to prove to the world that he was deserving of a first-round selection in the 2011 draft, not in the second where he went to Columbus, 37th overall.
Tanner Pearson might be the best story of the whole group. Once a stick boy for the Kitchener Rangers at the 2008 Mastercard Memorial Cup, he passed through two NHL drafts before bursting onto the scene this season in Barrie. He worked out with Mark Scheifele all summer long and finally realized that he could make a go of this hockey thing and now leads the OHL in scoring — a lead that might remain intact as the next closest competitor is 16 points back (Toffoli of Ottawa).
And don’t forget about Mark Stone, this guy is the real deal. The Senators prospect lasted until the sixth round in the 2010 draft. Tim Murray and Pierre Dorion should be wearing masks for stealing him so late. I believe he’ll produce on the world stage. Devante Smith-Pelly’s game has come a long way, and he too can provide some goal-scoring. This group will have to get it done by committee.
Here are some of the things you can look for from a Don Hay-coached team: aggressive on the forecheck, go to the net hard (Hay’s own player in Vancouver, Brendan Gallagher will have at least three goalie interference penalties in the event), short shifts, pucks moved to the forwards quickly and attention to detail.
Don’t forget, you can catch all of Canada’s games on the Sportsnet Radio Network. We have more than 20 stations across the country and Rod Pedersen, Andrew Walker and I will call the games. We’ll also have Ryan Leslie and RJ Broadhead splitting the preliminary and medal round games for Sportsnet Connected.
As for the radio, here’s our schedule:
Monday, Dec. 26: 3:00 p.m. vs. Finland
Wednesday, Dec. 28: 7:30 p.m. vs. Czech Republic
Thursday, Dec. 29: 7:00 p.m. vs. Denmark
Saturday, Dec. 31: 7:30 p.m. vs. USA
Quarterfinals: Monday, Jan. 2 – 4:30 p.m. or 8:30 p.m.
Semifinals: Tuesday, Jan. 3 – 4:30 p.m. AND 8:30 p.m.
Bronze medal game: Thursday, Jan. 5 – 3:00 p.m.
Gold medal game: Thursday, Jan. 5 – 7:30 p.m.
In the meantime, be sure to check-out Friday Night Hockey. We have a doubleheader for you. Game One features the London Knights at home to the Guelph Storm. Rob Faulds, Jason York and Ben Ennis will have all the action for you. In the late tilt, it’s the Regina Pats paying a visit to the Scotiabank Saddledome to take on the Calgary Hitmen. RJ Broadhead and I will have the call for that one, while Tara Slone will host.
NOTE: The Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospect Rosters will be released Thursday. We’ll have that game for you on Sportsnet Wednesday, February 1st, 2012.