By Aaron Bell
The Canadian Hockey League may be on hiatus this week as players across the league celebrate the holiday season but for a handful of players, hockey is still the main focus.
As many as 63 CHL players will suit up in the World Junior Championships starting on Friday in Ottawa.
The Canadian squad leads the way with 21 CHL players and Canadian coach Pat Quinn thinks that his team has a good chance of winning its fifth straight gold medal on home ice.
“I think we have a real solid and deep skill level so that we can play a skating game and a puck moving game,” Quinn said. “Hopefully we can be a position-style team and on the smaller ice play with an edge and let people know we’re out there.”
The Canadian team includes four players that won gold medals last year. Forwards John Tavares of the Oshawa Generals and Zach Boychuk of the Lethbridge Hurricanes and defencemen Thomas Hickey of the Seattle Thunderbirds and P.K. Subban of the Belleville Bulls are all hoping to grab another gold medal to go along with the one they won a year ago in the Czech Republic.
“Getting the opportunity to play for Canada at the World Juniors again is always exciting,” Tavares said. “To represent Canada is always an honour and an exciting time.”
While Canada is clearly a favourite to win the gold medal again, Sweden comes into the tournament with some unfinished business after losing to Canada in overtime in the gold medal game last year. Russia is also bringing a strong squad this year and the U.S.A. has a large contingent of CHL players in their lineup this year and judging from a pair of dominant pre-tournament wins, they also look like a powerhouse.
Here is a look at the teams that are participating in the tournament and the CHL players that are expected to play (last year’s finish in brackets):
Canada (gold medal)
The Canadians may be a victim of their own success with as many as seven eligible players already suiting up in the NHL this season. Steven Stamkos and Drew Doughty starred with last year’s team in the Czech Republic but weren’t released by their NHL clubs for the tournament. Fortunately for Canada, their depth shows through in the quality of players that will suit up this year.
After a seven-year gold medal drought that stretched from 1998 through 2004, Canada has won four straight championships and will look to equal its own record of five in a row with a win in Ottawa this year.
Quinn takes the coaching reigns after Brent Sutter and Craig Hartsburg each claimed back-to-back wins and then moved on to the NHL.
Tavares and Boychuk are expected to lead the way offensively while Hickey and Subban will both log a lot of time on the blueline. Cody Hodgson of the Brampton Battalion led the World Under-18 tournament in scoring last April, leading Canada to the gold medal and is expected to be a big part of Canada’s offence at the World Juniors. He led all Canadians with nine points in their three-game warm-up before the tournament.
CHL Players
Aulie, Keith - Brandon Wheat Kings
Benn, Jamie - Kelowna Rockets
Boychuk, Zach - Lethbridge Hurricanes
Cormier, Patrice - Rimouski Oceanic
Della Rovere, Stefan - Barrie Colts
diDomenico, Chris - St. John Sea Dogs
Eberle, Jordan - Regina Pats
Ellis, Ryan - Windsor Spitfires
Ennis, Tyler - Medicine Hat Tigers
Esposito, Angelo - Montreal Juniors
Hickey, Thomas - Seattle Thunderbirds
Hodgson, Cody - Brampton Battalion
Kane, Evander - Vancouver Giants
Myers, Tyler - Kelowna Rockets
Pickard, Chet - Tri City Americans
Pietrangelo, Alex - Niagara IceDogs
Sonne, Brett - Calgary Hitmen
Subban, P.K. - Belleville Bulls
Tavares, John - Oshawa Generals
Teubert, Colten - Regina Pats
Tokarski, Dustin - Spokane Chiefs
Sweden (silver medal)
After losing to Canada in overtime in the finals last year, the Swedes are back again this year and hungry to topple the defending champs on their home ice. Standout defenceman Victor Hedman may challenge to be the first overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft this year and returns to anchor the Swedish blueline. He is a big man that loves to use his speed to cut off offensive chances.
Calgary Flames’ first rounder Mikael Backlund will be one of Sweden’s top offensive producers after scoring three times and adding four assists in the tournament last year. Joakim Andersson is a Detroit Red Wings’ prospect and plays a good two-way game and 2009 prospect Magnus Svensson Paajarvi was the youngest player to ever suit up for Sweden when he made the team as a 16-year-old last year.
CHL Players
Eriksson, Alexander - Brampton Battalion
Russia (bronze medal)
Forward Evgeni Dadonov was outstanding in the ADT Canada-Russia Challenge last month and will be counted on to be one of Russia’s offensive sparkplugs while OHL’ers Evgeny Grachev of the Brampton Battalion is quickly becoming a star in the CHL. Sergei Korostin of the Peterborough Petes also provides a good two-way game up front.
Nikita Filatov is playing his first season in North America and is the youngest player in the American Hockey League. In 20 games with the Syracuse Crunch, Filatov has scored seven goals and 16 points.
Former NHLer Sergei Nemchinov returns behind the Russian bench after coaching in the ADT Challenge.
CHL Players
Grachev, Evgeni - Brampton Battalion
Korostin, Sergey - Peterborough Petes
Kugryshev, Dmitry - Quebec Remparts
Kulikov, Dmitry - Drummondville Voltigeurs
Ostapchuk, Sergei - Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
U.S.A. (4th)
The Americans were disappointed with their fourth place finish last year after winning the bronze medal in 2007 and are loaded up for a run at the gold medal this year.
Seven players return from last year’s team, including James van Riemsdyk, who led the tournament in scoring with five goals and 11 points in six games. Jordan Schroeder and Colin Wilson also return after putting up good numbers last year.
The American team boasts eight CHL players this year, including forwards Mitch Wahl, Drayson Bowman and Tyler Johnson, who all helped the Spokane Chiefs win the Memorial Cup championship last May in Kitchener. Belleville Bulls’ captain Eric Tangradi and OHL goaltenders Thomas McCollum of the Guelph Storm and Josh Unice of the Kitchener Rangers were also named to the roster.
Team captain Jonathan Blum of the Vancouver Giants returns to the blueline.
The U.S. claimed their first and only gold medal at the tournament in Helsinki, Finland in 2004 and they look poised to claim another one. They scored a convincing exhibition win over Russia at the K-Rock Centre in Kingston on Tuesday.
CHL Players
Blum, Jonathan - Vancouver Giants
Bowman, Drayson - Spokane Chiefs
Johnson, Tyler - Spokane Chiefs
McCollum, Thomas - Guelph Storm
O'Brien, James - Seattle Thunderbirds
Tangradi, Eric - Belleville Bulls
Unice, Josh - Kitchener Rangers
Wahl, Mitch - Spokane Chiefs
Czech (5th)
The Czechs finished fifth last year on home ice and haven’t won a World Junior medal since taking home the bronze in 2005 but they won back-to-back gold medals in 2000 and 2001 and are anxious to get back to the podium.
The Czechs traditionally invite plenty of CHL talent to their roster and their preliminary lineup for this year included a bunch of CHL’ers. Martin Paryzek of the Ottawa 67’s, Milan Doczy of the Owen Sound Attack, Michal Jordan of the Plymouth Whalers and Vladimir Roth of the London Knights are all expected to suit up for their home country.
CHL Players (Preliminary Roster)
Cerveny, Rudolf - Regina Pats
Doczy, Milan - Owen Sound Attack
Jkundratek, Tomas - Medicine Hat Tigers
Jordan, Michal - Plymouth Whalers
Karpov, Tomas - Moose Jaw Warriors
Knotek, Tomas - Halifax Mooseheads
Malinik, Roman - Baie-Comeau Drakkar
Novotny, Stepan - Kelowna Rockets
Okal, Zdenek - Medicine Hat Tigers
Paryzek, Martin - Ottawa 67's
Piskacek, Jan - Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
Roth, Vladimir - London Knights
Stich, David - St. John Sea Dogs
Valchar, Radim - Portland Winter Hawks
Vincour, Tomas - Edmonton Oil Kings
Finland (6th)
Finland has won a pair of gold medals, most recently a decade ago in Helsinki and own four bronze medals in five years, including 2006 in Vancouver. They held their own against Canada early in their exhibition game on Sunday before Canada blew the game open in the third period.
CHL Players
Kivisto, Tommi - Red Deer Rebels
Metsola, Juha - Lethbridge Hurricanes
Niemi, Jyri - Saskatoon Blades
Slovakia (7th)
The Slovaks finished seventh last year and only have three players eligible to return. They included four CHL players on their preliminary roster, including Erie Otters’ goaltender Jaroslav Janus. They won the bronze medal in Winnipeg in 1999.
CHL Players
Janus, Jaroslav - Erie Otters
Kytnar, Milan - Saskatoon Blades
Siska, Michal - Kamloops Blazers
Viedensky, Marek - Prince George Cougars
Kazakhstan (8th)
Kazakhstan is in the A pool for the second straight year after an eighth place finish in Pardubice last January. They don’t have any CHL players on the roster.
Germany (advanced from B pool in 2008)
The Germans advanced from the B pool last year and bring half a dozen CHL players to their lineup this year. Former NHL defenceman Uwe Krupp is behind the bench as an assistant coach. Several of the players on this team helped German to a fifth place finish in the World Under-18’s last April in Russia.
CHL Players
Fauser, Gerrit - Gatineau Olympiques
Fischhaber, Simon - Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds
Grubauer, Philipp - Belleville Bulls
Pielmeier, Timo - Shawinigan Cataractes
Reul, Denis - Lewiston MAINEiacs
Ritter, Toni - Montreal Juniors
Latvia (advanced from B pool in 2008)
Latvia also advanced to the tournament after a strong showing in the B pool last year. They don’t have any CHL players on their roster and provided little competition for the U.S. in an exhibition game in Kingston on Sunday. Defenceman Kriss Grundmanis played for the St. Michael’s Majors two years ago.
