TSN Hockey Reporter Mark Masters reports on the World Junior Hockey Championship. Team Canada practised on Friday at the Westerner Park Centrium in Red Deer, Alta.
Kamloops Blazers forward Connor Zary woke up early on Friday morning. It was hard to sleep knowing Hockey Canada‘s final cuts were looming. Then he he heard a knock at the door.
“All the coaching staff and management was outside and Bear [head coach Andre Tourigny] handed me his phone right away and it was my family and I knew,” the Calgary Flames 2020 first round pick said. “But when they said those words, that I was going to be part of this team, just, the emotion going through my head and through their faces … that was special.”
This scenario played out at 21 other doorways in the Cambridge Red Deer Hotel as Team Canada’s World Junior squad was finalized. Hockey Canada let the parents of the players deliver the news and sometimes they got carried away and skipped a step.
“My mom was on FaceTime and she was cheering and congratulating me and she didn’t tell me what she was congratulating me for,” Prince Albert defenceman Kaiden Guhle, a Montreal Canadiens first-round pick, said with a smile. “So I had to ask her. She was so happy and it made it extra special.”
Making it to the World Juniors in any year is special, but in this pandemic-interrupted season when playing opportunities can’t be taken for granted it’s even more meaningful. And this Canadian team was especially hard to crack with 20 first-round picks among the 22 skaters on the roster.
“It didn’t feel real until I hit the ice,” said Saginaw Spirit forward Ryan Suzuki after Friday’s practice. “You just see all the talent that’s out there … just how fast-paced the practice is. Right when I stepped on the ice it all hit me at once.”
After an emotional day, the focus now turns to building chemistry so this incredibly deep group can live up to the sky-high expectations. There will be another two practices before the team travels to Edmonton to enter the bubble on Sunday night.
Button on Team Canada’s final roster: ‘I think they’ll go undefeated’
With all 14 forwards being selected in the first round of the NHL draft, Team Canada’s World Junior roster is supremely skilled, and it’s not just the forwards that are impressive. TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button joins Gino Reda to break down the final roster for Team Canada and give his predictions on the tournament.
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Add it all up and the players only had nine days on the ice during the 26-day selection camp. A 14-day quarantine eliminated much of the opportunity to make an impression.
“This was a deep group,” said Alan Millar of the Hockey Canada management team. “It made us have to make some really tough decisions. We had to trust the process and trust the big picture.”
“We did a good job at making sure we were staying level and not getting emotional about yesterday,” said Tourigny. “It was more what happened in the big picture.”
But, still, some players made the most of the four scrimmages. Millar identified seven players, in particular, who helped their cause.
“We’re real pleased with the way our goaltenders have come together here the last couple of days,” the Moose Jaw Warriors general manager said.
Prince George’s Taylor Gauthier, Kamloops’ Dylan Garand and Northeastern University’s Devon Levi were named to the team on Thursday.
“On the back end, [Halifax’s] Justin Barron and Kaiden Guhle are two guys who had real good camps and solidified themselves with our group,” Millar continued. “Up front, the NCAA guys, [Wisconsin’s Dylan] Holloway and [Boston College’s Alex] Newhook have been impressive.”
It was, therefore, no surprise that Barron and Guhle remained paired together at Friday’s practice.
“It’s tough to split them, to be honest,” said Tourigny. “Why try to fix something when it’s not broken. Right now they’re tough to play against. Both of them skate well, have good size, can move the puck so we like what we see so far.”
And Holloway and Newhook also remained together on a line with Flames prospect Jakob Pelletier.
“Our line’s clicking really well,” said Holloway. “Both guys are really fast players so getting in on the forecheck is pretty easy when they’re going a million miles an hour. We got good communication on the bench and everything. We just click really well and had good chemistry right off the bat.”
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When Suzuki was contemplating his tenuous position at Canada’s camp on Thursday, he reached out to someone who could relate: older brother Nick Suzuki, a centre with the Montreal Canadiens.
“I was pretty stressed out thinking about the final cuts so I was texting him and he said, ‘You can’t worry about that now. You did the best you could and you just have to leave it up to them.’ He’s always been by my side and always giving me tips.”
An 18-year-old Nick Suzuki was cut at Canada’s selection camp for the 2018 World Juniors before cracking the roster one year later.
“That first year, after he got cut, he was pretty upset and that just gave him more motivation that next year to not take his foot off the gas that whole camp and [not] leave any stone unturned. The biggest thing he told me going into camp is you just got to make the best of every opportunity and you got to keep going.”
Due to a serious eye injury last season, Suzuki missed out on a chance to make the 2020 World Junior team.
“Ever since I got back this was a goal of mine because last year I wanted to come to this camp and make this team,” he said.
And now that he’s made it, the London, Ont., native is looking to earn some bragging rights over his brother. Nick left the World Juniors without a medal following a heartbreaking overtime loss against Finland in the quarterfinals something his father reminded Ryan of on Friday morning.
“He actually said that Nick didn’t get a gold medal so you can one-up him on that so that’s what I’m going to try and do here.”
After 26 days at selection camp, including 14 in quarantine, Hockey Canada whittled its roster from 46 to 25. Here are some other notable numbers:
20 – The number of first-round picks that made the team, including all 14 forwards. Last year’s team had 10 first rounders with seven up front.
11 – The number of players on the roster who won a gold medal while playing for Tourigny at the 2018 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. That group includes Barron, Bowen Byram, Dylan Cozens, Kirby Dach, Gauthier, Holloway, Peyton Krebs, Kaedan Korczak , Pelletier, Braden Schneider and Suzuki.
9 – The number of players released on Friday. The final cuts included forwards Mavrik Bourque, Graeme Clarke, Gage Goncalves, Seth Jarvis, Samuel Poulin and Jamieson Rees, and defencemen Lukas Cormier, Ryan O’Rourke and Donovan Sebrango.
7 – The number of players who got cut at last year’s selection camp and earned some redemption by making it this year. That group includes Thomas Harley, Holloway, Krebs, Newhook, Cole Perfetti, Schneider and Zary.
6 – The number of 18-year-olds on the roster. For the second straight year Sudbury centre Quinton Byfield is the team’s youngest player. The other 18-year-olds are Garand, Jami e Drysdale, Guhle, Levi and Perfetti. Both Levi (Dec. 27) and Perfetti (Jan. 1) will celebrate birthdays in the Edmonton bubble.
5 – The number of players on the roster who have suited up in league games this season. Holloway played two NCAA games while Pelletier, Jordan Spence, Barron and Dawson Mercer all played games in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
3 – The number of Colorado Avalanche prospects on the team, which is more than any other National Hockey League team. Newhook, the 16th overall pick in 2019, and 2020 first rounder Barron join returning player Byram, the fourth overall pick in 2019.
2 – The number of Newfoundland natives who made the team. Bay Roberts’ Mercer is back from last year’s team and will be joined by Newhook, who’s from St. John’ s. This is the first time two players from The Rock have made it to the same World Juniors since John Slaney and Chad Penney in 1992.
0 – The number of Hockey Canada events Jack Quinn was invited to before this year. The Ottawa 67’s winger, who scored 52 goals last season, will be making his international debut at the World Juniors.
A wild week wraps up, as Canada prepares to enter the World Jr. bubble
Gino Reda takes a look back at the week that was for Canada’s national junior team selection camp on 7-Eleven Junior Hockey Magazine. For the full podcast: https://apple.co/3qPGKH2
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After producing just one goal and one assist in five games at last year’s World Juniors, Wisconsin Badgers winger Cole Caufield is expecting to play a bigger role with Team USA this year.
“I want to bring the offence to the table,” the Canadiens’ 2019 first rounder said following a practice at the USA camp in Michigan. “On a personal level, I just got to put the puck in the back of the net, make plays and win games for us.”
Caufield scored 19 goals in 36 NCAA games last year and is off to a strong start in his sophomore season with six goals and six assists in 10 games.
“I feel a lot more confident going into this tournament than I did last year,” the 19-year-old said. “Obviously, I had a good start to the first half of the college season and I’ll take that into the tournament.”
Caufield has skated with draft-eligible centre Matthew Beniers so far at camp.
“He kind of draws guys towards him, which leaves me open so it’s nice to play with a guy like him,” Caufield observed. “He’s always moving, which leaves me free and open most of the time.”
And that’s important considering the way Caufield prefers to play.
“I’m at my best without the puck and I think that will show a lot at this tournament,” said Caufield, who excels at finding soft spots in opposing defences.
“He’s a very special player,” said Holloway, Caufield’s teammate in Wisconsin. “Everyone is in awe of the way he scores goals, but the way he is away from the puck, he’s gotten a lot better. His hands and shot, believe it or not, I feel like they’ve gotten better too.”
Habs’ Caufield looking to make more of an impact at this year’s World Juniors
Montreal Canadiens 2019 first round pick Cole Caufield scored just one goal for the Americans at last year’s World Juniors tournament. Feeling more confident this time around, Caufield is looking to make more of an impact for Team USA in Edmonton.
TORONTO – Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada’s five-player lineup when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in mid-November.
The 26th-ranked Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open finalist from Laval, Que., is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the WTA Tour’s singles rankings.
Dabrowski, from Ottawa, is ranked fourth on the doubles list. The 2023 U.S. Open women’s doubles champion won mixed doubles bronze with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the recent Paris Olympics.
Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., returns after a breakout performance last year, capped by her singles win in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Italy in the final. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino is also back and Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion from Mississauga, Ont., returns to the squad for the first time since 2022.
“Winning the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023 was a dream come true for us, and not only that, but I feel like we made a statement to the world about the strength of this nation when it comes to tennis,” Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh said Monday in a release. “Once again, we have a very strong team this year with Bianca joining Leylah, Gaby, Rebecca and Marina, making it an extremely powerful team that is more than capable of going all the way.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to make Canada proud, and we’ll do our best to bring the same level of effort and excitement that we had in last year’s finals.”
Fernandez, who beat Jasmine Paolini to clinch Canada’s first-ever title at the competition, is ranked No. 42 in doubles.
Canada, which received an automatic berth as defending champion, will play the winner of the first-round tie between Great Britain and Germany on Nov. 17 at Malaga’s Martin Carpena Arena.
Australia, Italy and wild-card entry Czechia also received first-round byes. The tournament, which continues through Nov. 20, also includes host Spain, Slovakia, the United States, Poland, Japan and Romania.
Stakusic is up 27 spots to No. 128 in the latest world singles rankings. Marino is at No. 134 and Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is ranked 167th.
Canada will look to become the first team since Czechia in 2016 to successfully defend its Billie Jean King Cup title.
Malaga will also host the Nov. 19-24 Davis Cup Final 8. The Canadian men qualified over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain in Manchester.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
PITTSBURGH – Sidney Crosby plans to remain a Pittsburgh Penguin for at least three more years.
The Penguins announced on Monday that they re-signed the 37-year-old from Cole Harbour, N.S., to a two-year contract extension that has an average annual value of US$8.7 million. The deal runs through the 2026-27 season.
Crosby was eligible to sign an extension on July 1 with him entering the final season of a 12-year, $104.4-million deal that carries an $8.7-million salary cap hit.
At the NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas last Monday, he said things were positive and he was optimistic about a deal getting done.
The three-time Stanley Cup champion is coming off a 42-goal, 94-point campaign that saw him finish tied for 12th in the league scoring race.
Crosby has spent all 19 of his NHL seasons in Pittsburgh, amassing 592 goals and 1,004 assists in 1,272 career games.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Tadej Pogacar was so dominant on Sunday, Canada’s Michael Woods called it a race for second.
Pogacar, a three-time Tour de France champion from Slovenia, pedalled to a resounding victory at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal.
The UAE Team Emirates leader crossed the finish line 24 seconds ahead of Spain’s Pello Bilbao of Bahrain — Victorious to win the demanding 209.1-kilometre race on a sunny, 28 C day in Montreal. France’s Julian Alaphilippe of Soudal Quick-Step was third.
“He’s the greatest rider of all time, he’s a formidable opponent,” said Woods, who finished 45 seconds behind the leader in eighth. “If you’re not at your very, very best, then you can forget racing with him, and today was kind of representative of that.
“He’s at such a different level that if you follow him, it can be lights out.”
Pogacar slowed down before the last turn to celebrate with the crowd, high-five fans on Avenue du Parc and cruise past the finish line with his arms in the air after more than five hours on the bike.
The 25-year-old joined Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet as the only multi-time winners in Montreal after claiming the race in 2022. He also redeemed a seventh-place finish at the Quebec City Grand Prix on Friday.
“I was disappointed, because I had such good legs that I didn’t do better than seventh,” Pogacar said. “To bounce back after seventh to victory here, it’s just an incredible feeling.”
It’s Pogacar’s latest win in a dominant year that includes victories at the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.
Ottawa’s Woods (Israel Premier-Tech) tied a career-best in front of the home crowd in Montreal, but hoped for more after claiming a stage at the Spanish Vuelta two weeks ago.
“I wanted a better result,” the 37-year-old rider said. “My goal was a podium, but at the same time I’m happy with the performance. In bike racing, you can’t always get the result you want and I felt like I raced really well, I animated the race, I felt like I was up there.”
Pogacar completed the 17 climbs up and down Mount Royal near downtown in five hours 28 minutes 15 seconds.
He made his move with 23.3 kilometres to go, leaving the peloton in his dust as he pedalled into the lead — one he never relinquished.
Bilbao, Alaphilippe, Alex Aranburu (Movistar Team) and Bart Lemmen (Visma–Lease) chased in a group behind him, with Bilbao ultimately separating himself from the pack. But he never came close to catching Pogacar, who built a 35-second lead with one lap left to go.
“It was still a really hard race today, but the team was on point,” Pogacar said. “We did really how we planned, and the race situation was good for us. We make it hard in the last final laps, and they set me up for a (takeover) two laps to go, and it was all perfect.”
Ottawa’s Derek Gee, who placed ninth in this year’s Tour de France, finished 48th in Montreal, and called it a “hard day” in the heat.
“I think everyone knows when you see Tadej on the start line that it’s just going to be full gas,” Gee said.
Israel Premier-Tech teammate Hugo Houle of Sainte-Perpétue, Que., was 51st.
Houle said he heard Pogacar inform his teammates on the radio that he was ready to attack with two laps left in the race.
“I said then, well, clearly it’s over for me,” Houle said. “You see, cycling isn’t that complicated.”
Australia’s Michael Matthews won the Quebec City GP for a record third time on Friday, but did not finish in Montreal. The two races are the only North American events on the UCI World Tour.
Michael Leonard of Oakville, Ont., and Gil Gelders and Dries De Bondt of Belgium broke away from the peloton during the second lap. Leonard led the majority of the race before losing pace with 45 kilometres to go.
Only 89 of 169 riders from 24 teams — including the Canadian national team — completed the gruelling race that features 4,573 metres in total altitude.
Next up, the riders will head to the world championships in Zurich, Switzerland from Sept. 21 to 29.
Pogacar will try to join Eddy Merckx (1974) and Stephen Roche (1987) as the only men to win three major titles in a season — known as the Triple Crown.
“Today gave me a lot of confidence, motivation,” Pogacar said. “I think we are ready for world championships.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.
