Blades handled Malysjev departure well - D-man has to do what is best for him

Emil Malysjev elected to leave the Blades to play closer to home.

    In his one season with the Saskatoon Blades, Emil Malysjev left you wanting to see more.

    That makes his departure from the team tough to see. After going unselected in the NHL Entry Draft that was held June 21 and 22 in Vancouver, B.C., Malysjev informed the Blades he was staying in his home country of Sweden to pursue career opportunities in the game there.

    As a result, he wouldn’t be returning for an 18-year-old sophomore campaign in the WHL.

    Malysjev had informed the Blades brass for a lengthy stretch after the team’s playoff run came to an end what his thought process was. The club started preparing for the fact the Malysjev wouldn’t be back.

    That included selecting two defencemen from the Czech Republic in the CHL Import Draft held via conference call on Thursday in 19-year-old Libor Zabransky and Radek Kucerik, who will turn 18-years-old in December.

Emil Malysjev was solid in his own zone.

    Zabransky has played in the WHL for the Kelowna Rockets, but after the Rockets released him on Jan. 12, he became available again for the Import Draft.

    In Malysjev’s case, the Blades did what was best for the player. He felt more comfortable staying home, and the team showed understanding and let him do what he thought was best for him.

    The majority of the players in the WHL are teenagers, and when all is said and done, about 90 per cent of them won’t skate in an NHL regular season game as a player.

    All players coming into the WHL will wrestle with the fact that one day they will no longer be active players in the game at a competitive level including the ones that go on to have NHL careers.

Emil Malysjev improved steadily throughout the 2018-19 season.

    You have to weigh if the experience you gain being away from home playing in the WHL is worth it. For every player, that evaluation will be different.

    For imports like Malysjev, you have to add in the fact he left his home country and family and friends behind to cross an ocean to play hockey in a new country and a new city. Import players have to work through learning and adjusting to a new culture and often a new language on top of figuring out what their new team expects from them.

    Malysjev was taking on all of that as a 17-year-old, but he did have an advantage in the fact he could speak English fluently.

    The blue-liner, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 190 pounds, was succeeding on all fronts.

Emil Malysjev could potentially make noise on the international stage.

    He improved greatly as the season progressed. Paired with overager Dawson Davidson, Malysjev appeared in 63 regular season games with the Blades posting three goals, 14 assists and a plus-13 rating in the plus-minus department.

    Malysjev skated in all 10 of the Blades post-season games scoring a goal and posting an even-rating.

    He was rated 192^nd among North American skaters in the final NHL Central Scouting rankings.

    With Davidson and fellow overage defenceman Brandon Schuldhaus exhausting their major junior eligibility at the conclusion of the Blades run in the WHL playoffs, Malysjev was initially pegged at being a key returnee for the team.

Emil Malysjev was solid in his one full season with the Blades.

    However, that won’t be the case.

    With the improvement Malysjev showed last season, one had to wonder how much he would have improved had played with the Blades as an 18-year-old or even as a 19-year-old.

    Still, Malysjev might still find his way to the NHL or even a lengthy professional career playing in Sweden or somewhere in Europe. Some of the Blades might cross paths with Malysjev on the international stage.

    It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him possibly skating with Sweden’s world junior team some day.

    Malysjev is doing what his best for him. As a teenager, he is still growing on many levels, and now he will continue that growth near the support system of his family and friends.

    The Blades helped him take a big leap forward in the game during his season in Saskatoon. Now, they are helping him by letting him go home, which is what he had his heart set on doing.

Raiders’ Kelly receives sweet Senators award again

Parker Kelly was a repeat award winner at Senators development camp.

    Parker Kelly was rewarded for the second straight year for a strong showing at the development camp of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators.

    On Friday, the Prince Albert Raiders power forward was presented the Jonathan Pitre Memorial Trophy as the hardest working player at the Senators development camp for a second straight year.

    The Camrose, Alta., product was a co-winner of the inaugural edition of the award last year with Brady Tkachuk.

    The award is named after Jonathan Pitre, who was also known as the “Butterfly Boy.” Pitre passed away in April of 2018 from recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, which is a rare genetic mutation that causes the skin to blister and fall off at the slightest touch.

Parker Kelly (#27) played a key part helping the Raiders win the WHL title.

    He bonded with many of the Senators players and was named an honourary scout for the team in 2014. Pitre raised more than $200,000 for research of the disease.

    Last season, Kelly had a big campaign for the Raiders setting career highs in goals (35), assists (32) and points (67) in 64 regular season games. He posted a plus-42 rating in the plus-minus department, which was also a career high.

    Kelly helped the Raiders win the WHL championship posting eight goals, nine assists and a plus-19 rating appearing in all of the team’s 23 games in the WHL playoffs.

Parker Kelly lifts the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

    He is eligible to return to the Raiders as an overage player next season. Kelly signed an entry-level contract with the Senators in September of 2017 after a strong showing at their training camp that year, and it is highly likely he will play next season somewhere in the Senators system.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Wilson’s passion for teaching goaltenders still shines

Veteran coach seen role evolve over 17 years

Eli Wilson, centre, has made his mark in hockey coaching goalies.

    Eli Wilson remembers the days when being a goalie coach in hockey was a rarity, and he was part of that rarity.

    When Wilson specifically began teaching puck stoppers 17 years ago, the notion of having one coach in hockey working just with netminders was still a relatively new one. Now, the 40-year-old, who has worked with 30 goalies who went on the play in the NHL including Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens, is surrounded by lots of company.

    “There are more goalie coaches than coaches,” said Wilson. “It is just non-stop.

    “I think when I joined the (WHL’s Medicine Hat) Tigers in 04, there were at the time some teams who didn’t have goalie coaches then. Some of the teams that did, it would be a guy that was maybe around once in a while type of thing. With (then Tigers head coach and general manager) Willie (Desjardins) there, he wanted me there once a week.

A young netminder mades a glove stop at Eli Wilson’s goalie camp.

    “I would come down on the weekends, watch the games and then spend Monday and Tuesday there. I was around a lot with those teams.”

    Wilson was involved with the Tigers through four seasons from 2004 to 2007, and he played an integral role in developing the team’s goalies. Thanks to Wilson’s work, the Tigers won WHL championships in 2004 and 2007 and earned berths in the Memorial Cup tournament in both of those years. Star netminders Kevin Nastiuk and Matt Keetley were the WHL playoff MVPs in those runs in 2004 and 2007 respectively.

    Besides working for the Tigers, Wilson also spent time working with the WHL’s Vancouver Giants and the NHL’s Ottawa Senators and the Anaheim Ducks’s AHL affiliate the Syracuse Crunch. With the Senators, Wilson played a big role in helping Ray Emery backstop that franchise to a Stanley Cup finals berth in 2007. He recently signed on to work with the WHL’s Tri-City Americans, who happen to be Price’s former major junior team.

A young netminder works on positioning at Eli Wilson’s goalie camp.

    During his career, Wilson has criss-crossed Canada and ventured into the United States running goalie schools. He established his Eli Wilson Goaltending company in 2010 and has operated that school year round outside of stints where he has worked with WHL and professional teams.

    Now that there are numerous goalie coaches out there, Wilson said teaching netminders has evolved.

    “You go to a Western League level game or you go to a junior A game, everyone can move,” said Wilson, who wrapped up a week long goalie camp at the Jemini Arena in Saskatoon on Friday. “Everyone looks like they are a goalie, but some guys don’t have a feel or a read for the game and that is the tactical part of it that really makes a difference.

    “Ten years ago, some guys were further advanced technically, and it made all the difference in the world. Now, that is not good enough.”

A young netminder makes a blocker stop at Eli Wilson’s goalie camp.

    Wilson said mental toughness is the other factor that separates good goalies from great ones. He brings former WHL netminder Pete Fry, who played for the Portland Winterhawks, Spokane Chiefs and Victoria Cougars in the 1980s, to work with goalies on the mental aspect of the game.

    To show how much of a difference mental toughness can play in sports, Wilson has recently been telling his netminders to look at the NFL’s New England Patriots in the last Super Bowl. Despite the fact the Patriots fell behind 28-3 to the Atlanta Falcons, Wilson said you could tell by body language that Patriots all-world quarterback Tom Brady and mastermind head coach Bill Belichick never lost confidence.

    The Patriots rallied to beat the Falcons 34-28 in overtime.

Eli Wilson, second from right, address a group of goalies at his camp.

    “You saw what Tom Brady did this year,” said Wilson. “That was all mental, all of it. That is what you need.

    “Pete (Fry) talks about a lot of that stuff. That is the biggest thing. It blankets the entire position.”

    Wilson works with goalies at various ages and various levels of hockey. When it comes to teaching goalies, Wilson uses the same approach with relative newcomers to the position all the way to NHL veterans.

    “I’ll have an eight-year-old kid and I wouldn’t do anything differently or get him to try and play any differently than I would the best goalie in the world,” said Wilson. “I would take the same approach, the same structure, the same game plan, the same movement patterns, the same save techniques, the same tactical (and) the same technical.

A young netminder makes a stick stop at Eli Wilson’s goalie camp.

    “It doesn’t matter really what age, what size (or) size in comparison to the level of play.”

    Wilson works on four principles with netminders. They include the knowledge of positioning, technique and the ability to get into position on time, save technique and rebound control and post-save response.

    On the overall technical side, Wilson said there was one key.

    “It is about making the save the easiest part of your game,” said Wilson. “You make it as simple as possible to eliminate margin for error to give you your greatest chance of success.”

    He is frequently assisted at his camps by his veteran students.

    During the camp in Saskatoon, Wilson was helped out by Emery, Rylan Toth, who just wrapped up his WHL career after playing with the Red Deer Rebels and Seattle Thunderbirds, and Rylan Pareateau, who just wrapped up his WHL career with the Prince Albert Raiders and Americans.

    At the NHL Entry Draft in June in Chicago, Ill., Wilson was present to see two of his students hear their names called by NHL teams. 

Eli Wilson barks instructions at his goalie camp.

    Stuart Skinner, who plays for the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes, was selected in the third round and 78^th overall by the Edmonton Oilers. Dylan Ferguson, who plays for the Kamloops Blazers, was selected in the seventh round and 194^th overall by the Dallas Stars before his NHL rights were subsequently traded to the Las Vegas Gold Knights.

    “You get so many guys that are just so thankful for the time that they’ve spent with you,” said Wilson. “It is a constant reward.

    “When you work with a lot of goaltenders, you get to see a lot of success.”

    Besides the technical, tactical and mental parts of the game, Wilson also stresses a couple of intangibles to his goalies. One is to enjoy the time you have with your teammates and coaches.

Former NHL netminder Ray Emery, right, gives instructions.

    “Enjoy the people that you get a chance to work with and meet,” said Wilson. “I think that is a huge part of the game.

    “My biggest thing is coming to the rink every single day and I get to do exactly what I want, and I just feed off that every day all day. I’ve been able to do that for 17 years.

    “It is constantly rewarding to go on an ice time and watch a group of goalies be way better in an hour and a half than they were in an hour and a half earlier. That is a huge part.”

    The other intangible Wilson stresses is to enjoy the journey of reaching a set end goal. Even when teams aren’t as successful as they want to be in the wins department, Wilson said you have to find the positives, and you can still grow and have a good experience.

Eli Wilson, centre, said it is key to enjoy the people you meet in hockey.

    Wilson said the joy of accomplishing a goal is fleeting, but the memories a goalie builds on the journey to accomplishing a goal is the thing that last.

    “You win the Olympics, you just won and then it is over,” said Wilson. “It is the whole process beforehand that is the point that should be enjoyed.

    “Reminiscing about winning something, it fades and goes away. Enjoying the process as you get there and you do the whole thing, then you’ve won weather you win or lose at the end anyways, because you’ve followed the process and you’ve enjoyed the process.

    “Just because you are not winning every night and there are tough parts about it, you have to find positives. You have to enjoy it and enjoy the people.”

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

Can hockey Huskies roll again?

Captain Kendall McFaull celebrates netting a Huskies goal.

    The University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team won’t be sneaking up on anyone this time.

    Entering the 2015-16 campaign, the Huskies had expectations to do well, but those expectations were tempered after posting a 10-15-3 mark in 2014-15, which ended a run of 18 straight seasons where the Dogs posted a winning record. Doubts were put to rest quickly.

    The Huskies seemed to be on a magical ride in 2015-16 cruising to the top of the Canada West standings with a 22-6 mark. Their 22 wins matched a club record, which occurred in the 1999-2000 campaign with a 22-3-3 mark and in 1987-88 with a 22-5-1 record.

    They played an exciting and wide open style offensively, while remaining sound in the defensive zone. Goaltending was rock solid thanks to Jordon Cooke, who won the award as the top netminder in Canadian Interuniversity Sport after posting a 19-5 record, a .921 save percentage, a 2.52 goals against average and two shutouts.

    The Huskies were also pushed by an emotional spark playing to honour the memory of alumni Cody Smuk, who passed away of cancer in late June of 2015. Smuk’s number was retired before a home game on Oct. 24, 2015, and the Huskies warmed up at home all season all wearing Smuk’s #24 jersey.

    In the playoffs, the Huskies swept away the U of Calgary Dinos in a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series and pulled out the broom again to take down their forever rivals the U of Alberta Golden Bears in the Canada West championship series. Both rounds were playing in front of raucous crowds at the ancient Rutherford Rink.

    After taking the Canada West title, the Huskies brought out Smuk’s parents, father Marty and mother Darla, and his fiancée Stephanie Vause to be part of the on ice team picture.

    It seemed like everything was lining up to create a feeling that the Huskies would win their first CIS title since 1983 no matter what the odds were.

    At the University Cup in Halifax, N.S., the Huskies dropped a 2-1 triple overtime heartbreaker to the St. Francis Xavier University X-Men in a semifinal match. U of S closed the tournament falling 5-2 in the bronze medal contest to the St. Mary’s University Huskies 5-2.

    Entering the 2016-17 campaign, the Huskies top the pre-season Canada West coaches’ poll. They open the regular season on Friday hosting the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds at 7 p.m. at Rutherford.

    Emotion will not likely play as big of a role this time around. Captain Kendall McFaull, Connor Cox, John Lawrence and Josh Roach are the only remaining Huskies players who were teammates with Smuk in his final season in 2013-14.

    They also have to make up for the loss of last season’s fifth year graduates in Zak Stebner and Matthew Spafford. Stebner was a sound defensive defenceman and a calming presence in the dressing room. Spafford brought heart and character to the squad, which made him arguably the team’s most popular play amongst the student body at the U of S campus.

    The Huskies return a strong core including last year’s team scoring leader in Kohl Bauml and goals leader Levi Cable. That group will have to jell with an outstanding group of nine first-year players that made the final cuts topped by standout forwards Alex Forsberg, Connor Gay and Carson Stadnyk. If the returnees and newcomers establish chemistry early, the Huskies have the potential to be more formidable than last season.

    The 2016-17 campaign will eventually write its own unique tale. The Huskies might just add another impressive chapter to their already storied history.

Familiar new face behind bench for Huskies women’s team

Kaitlin Willoughby was at Hockey Canada's Women's Development camp.

    The U of S Huskies women’s team enter the 2016-17 campaign with new but familiar face taking over as head coach on a one-year interim basis.

    Former captain Robin Ulrich will be the Huskies new top bench boss as Steve Kook takes a professional leave of absence. Ulrich played defence for the Huskies from 2004-09 and was named a Canada West first team all-star and won the conference’s student-athlete community award.

    Ulrich was an assistant coach with the team the past five seasons. The last two were a little less involved than the first three due to becoming a high school physical education teacher at Lampman School.

    She is extremely popular with the alumnae of the Huskies women’s team, who will no doubt be pulling for her, and she is surrounded by a strong support staff of assistant coaches.

    Ulrich also comes in knowing most of the players. The Huskies still have eight holdovers from their 2013-14 Canada West championship winning team, when Ulrich was a full-time assistant coach. The vets will no doubt ease the transition for the new bench boss.

    Fourth-year forward Kaitlin Willoughby tops the list of key returnees. The Prince Albert, Sask., product had an exciting summer attending Hockey Canada’s Women’s Development camp in August.

Cassidy Hendricks returns for her fifth and final season looking to add to her Huskies record for most career regular season wins, which currently sits at 46.

    Veteran forwards Lauren Zary and Rachel Johnson will likely give a strong punch to the offence, while Alyssa Dobler and Kira Bannatyne will be key in anchoring the back end in the defensive zone.

    Second-year defender Leah Bohlken will see an increased role as a quarterback on the power play, and former Weyburn Gold Wings captain Bailee Bourassa has the potential to chip in a few goals in her rookie campaign.

    Intensity won’t likely be a problem for the Huskies on their opening weekend. They travel to Vancouver to take on the defending Canada West champion University of British Columbia Thunderbirds on Friday and Saturday. Over the past couple of seasons, the battles between the Huskies and Thunderbirds have usually gotten a bit chippy.

    During the past two campaigns, offensive has come at a premium in Canada West women’s play. If the Huskies can find a groove early offensively, it might give them a bigger boost in the long run.

Back in the Express with Lukowich looking up to Howe

Former NHLer Morris Lukowich is a great story teller.

    I was back in the Saskatoon Express this week with a story that was pretty fun to write.

    I caught up with Morris Lukowich, who scored his fair share of goals playing in the NHL from 1979 to 1987. Lukowich, who grew up playing minor hockey in Saskatoon in the 1960s and early 1970s, looked up to the late Gordie Howe.

    Always the great story teller, Lukowich talked about his first meeting with the hockey icon and later becoming his teammate with the Houston Aeros of the now defunct World Hockey Association.
    Drafted by both the Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL and the Aeros after starring for the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers, Lukowich had the chance to hang out with Howe on a recruiting trip to Houston.
    That story can be found right here.

Leafs/Sens game was great for those who got there

    The biggest challenge of watch Tuesday night’s NHL pre-season game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators might have been just getting there.

    When I went to the game, I arrived at the junction of 51^st Street and Idylwyld Drive at about 6:30 p.m., and it took me 50 minutes to get from there to the SaskTel Centre. I didn’t even get to the arena’s parking lot. I parked at a used car dealership on Marquis Drive and booted it to the rink to make it inside by puck drop due to fact I was covering the game for The Canadian Press.

    Upon arriving at the SaskTel Centre’s main entrance, it looked like there was only one open route into the parking lot and no cars were coming in off Bill Hunter Avenue.

    The SaskTel Centre staff played damage control posting on Twitter, “Folks in traffic… our ingress plan is the same as Rush games and Garth Brooks. No specific reason for the congestion.”

    After seeing that Tweet, I started to question if I saw what I really saw. I attended the last two National Lacrosse League playoff games for the Saskatchewan Rush, which were sold out, and I remember cars streaming in off Bill Hunter Avenue.

    The locals that called into talk radio in Saskatoon on Wednesday morning seemed to see the same thing I did when it came to getting to the SaskTel Centre on Tuesday night.

    The frustration of getting in turned out to be a minor headache due to the fact the game itself was great and way better than the NHL pre-season games that were held at the SaskTel Centre the past two years.

    The Leafs and Senators iced lineups that will be close to the ones they use in the regular season. Ottawa pulled out a 3-2 victory after Bobby Ryan scored 21 seconds into overtime. Ryan scored on a nice backdoor play, while his side was working the power play. As for other thoughts on the night:

•         The first period fight between Senators right-winger Chris Neal and Leafs agitator Brandon Prust was a dandy. Both guys were throwing bombs, which really engaged the crowd.
•          Most of the 13,094 in attendance were cheering for the Leafs. At times, you almost through you were in the Air Canada Centre due to the number of “Go Leafs Go” chants that filled the air. The fans also booed Senators defenceman and former Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf almost every time he touched the puck.
•          Young forwards Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner both showed really good jump for the Leafs. Here is hoping the two 19-year-olds can keep up their respective efforts in the regular season.
•          The player who had the toughest luck was Leafs 22-year-old prospect goaltender Antoine Bibeau. He entered the contest at the start of the third period, and besides coming in cold, he barely faced any shots. Bibeau gave up two goals on the four shots and ended up being the netminder that took the loss on the night. He came into the game with the Leafs trailing 1-0, saw his side take a 2-1 advantage before he let two tallies in to take the loss.
•          The story I wrote for The Canadian Press on this contest can be found right here.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

Lazar has to be an X-factor for Canada

Curtis Lazar (#27) in action for the Edmonton Oil Kings.

            For Canada, the power might be in the man with the biggest smile.

            When the NHL’s Ottawa Senators allowed Curtis Lazar to participate in this season’s world junior hockey championship tournament in Toronto and Montreal, Canada’s chances at winning its first gold since 2009 got a big boost. The boost doesn’t just come from the fact the skilled forward had three goals and four assists in seven games for Canada at the last world juniors in Malmo, Sweden.

            The 19-year-old Salmon Arm, B.C., product, who has one goal and six assists in 27 games with the Senators, joins the Canadian squad carrying the intangible of a recent championship pedigree. In May, Lazar, who will be Canada’s captain, helped the Edmonton Oil Kings win their second Western Hockey League title in three years, and then the Memorial Cup for Canadian Hockey League supremacy. The Memorial Cup win was the first for the modern era Oil Kings, who began play in the fall of 2007.

            When the Oil Kings advanced to major junior hockey’s biggest stage, they were trying to end a league-wide drought, as a WHL team hadn’t claimed the Memorial Cup since the 2008 victory by the Spokane Chiefs. The WHL was facing its longest stretch without winning the big prize since it started competing for the Memorial Cup in 1971.

            The stretch was known as “The Curse of the Drop,” because the Memorial Cup was dropped after the trophy presentation, when it was being exchanged by Chiefs players Chris Bruton and Trevor Glass.

The Oil Kings ended the curse, and Lazar took centre stage in a number of key moments in the championship run. The biggest came in the semifinal contest of the playoff round at the Memorial Cup at London, Ont.

He scored the winner in triple overtime to deliver the Oil Kings to a 4-3 victory over the Val-d’Or Foreurs to end the longest game in the history of the event lasting 102 minutes and 42 seconds. The tally also vaulted the Oil Kings into the title game.

During that contest, it appeared the scene was set to allow “The Curse of the Drop” to continue. The Oil Kings held a 3-1 lead, but the Foreurs battled back. Guillaume Gelinas found the equalizer inside of the final minute of the third period to tie things up at 3-3 and force overtime.

Edmonton also had a 1-2 record in round robin play, so no one would have thought twice, if they fell in the semifinal. Lazar came through with the overtime winner. Two days later, the Oil Kings would double up the Guelph Storm 6-3 to win the Memorial Cup title.

Leading up to the Memorial Cup, Lazar proved to be a centre figure in helping the Oil Kings win the WHL title. He piled up 41 goals, 35 assists and a plus-41 rating in the plus-minus department in 58 regular season games and netted 10 goals and 12 assists in 21 WHL playoff games.

He had key contributions in the WHL championship series, where the Oil Kings faced the Portland Winterhawks for the third straight year. Entering the series as defending league champions, the Winterhawks, who were 54-13-2-3 in the regular season, were favoured over the Oil Kings, who posted a 50-19-2-1 mark.

The Winterhawks took Games 1 and 2 of the best-of-seven set in Portland and led Game 3 in Edmonton 2-0. Lazar helped turn the tide in contest and the series to that point helping set up an early second period power-play goal by Henrik Samuelsson to cut the Portland lead to 2-1. That sparked a 3-2 comeback victory for the Oil Kings.

In Game 4, Lazar had the insurance goal in a 2-0 victory that allowed Edmonton to tie the series 2-2. The Oil Kings added a 3-2 win in Portland in Game 5, before getting knocked to the ropes again.

Looking to win the series in Game 6 in Edmonton, the Oil Kings led 5-2 heading into the third, but the Winterhawks roared back with four straight goals to claim a 6-5 overtime victory. The two clubs were going back to Portland for a winner-take-all Game 7, and the Winterhawks had all the momentum.

Lazar provided the final turning point of the series in the deciding game. Locked in a 1-1 tie in the second, he scored a short-handed goal to put the Oil Kings up 2-1. The lead bulged to 4-1, before finishing up as a 4-2 Edmonton win.

When Canada starts opening round play on Friday night against Slovakia at the Bell Centre in Montreal, other storylines will be at the forefront. As far as the Canadian roster goes, there is a high interest level to see how 17-year-old phenom Connor McDavid of the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters will do. There are high expectations he will be selected first overall in the next NHL Entry Draft, and the shifty forward is one of Canada’s two alternate captains.

Up front, Canada is loaded with offensive talent with the likes of Max Domi (London Knights, OHL), Anthony Duclair (New York Rangers, NHL) and alternate captain Sam Reinhart (Kootenay Ice, WHL). It also feels a disservice to the forward group to not mention everyone.

The back end will be anchored by Josh Morrissey, who is a prospect of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets and was recently traded in the WHL to the Kelowna Rockets. Zachary Fucale (Halifax Mooseheads, QMJHL) and Eric Comrie (Tri-City Americans, WHL) will be the tandem in goal.

While watching world juniors is a Christmas time tradition in Canada, the automatic feeling that the Canadian team will win gold like from 2005 to 2009 is not there. Canada has finished fourth at the last two world juniors and hasn’t appeared in the gold medal game since 2011, when Russia skated away with a 5-3 victory in Buffalo, N.Y.

In order for the gold medal drought to not stretch through a sixth tournament, Canada will eventually need someone to step up in clutch and character situations. The pressure of playing in the extreme fishbowl hockey markets of Toronto and Montreal only adds to the intrigue.

In Lazar, Canada has a player that delivered in the clutch to help a league break a drought. It would only be natural for him to help a country break a drought, while smiling all the way.

If you have any feedback on this blog, feel free to email comments to stankssports@gmail.com.