Malcolm Subban stole the show this morning as the Canadians
beat their rivals south of the border 2-1, in what was a crucial win in terms
of seeding placement going forward. Although Subban will certainly steal the
limelight from this victory, there were others as well who deserve recognition
based on their effort.
I want to start out by pointing out the fact that for the
little ice time that Moosehead Nathan MacKinnon is receiving, he is making the
most out of every shift. In the hyped battle between next year’s two top draft
prospects, MacKinnon and American defenceman Seth Jones, MacKinnon outshone on
this night in UFA, and even though the Americans relied on Jones in all facets
of the game, big number 23 made the most out of his chances and downright
dominated at times playing alongside Jon Drouin and Ryan Strome. His speed was
evident, and what I love most about his game is that he`s able to create the
unthinkable while possessing Darren Helm speed. He was great, but even more
spectacular was the effort of Ryan Strome. Coming into this tournament my view
on Strome was that he had Jordan Eberle type hands, but had a Bantam hockey
level of strength. Even though he`ll never be confused with the likes of Milan
Lucic and Todd Bertuzzi, his hockey IQ is through the roof, never more apparent
than this morning. While cycling the puck down low, he`s always in the right
position and has a penchant to always find the open space. The Islanders
have a gem in this one. To round out
that line, I thought Drouin was just OK. Sometimes I think we have to take a
step back and remember he is only seventeen
years of age because today he looked very overwhelmed against a veteran
American defence corpse. If it wasn’t for a couple of ginormous saves by John
Gibson,the “Nuge” would of likely had a couple more goals tonight. I’ve said
this before and I’ll say it again, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins vision with the puck is
uncanny for his age and his combination of creativity and smarts reflects that
of a 10 year NHL vet, not a nineteen year old kid. Will the 6’1 Jonathan
Huberdeau please stand up? Not criticising the way he performed today but I’m
starting to form the opinion that if he used his body more effectively he could
be even more daunting then he already is. The size and speed of Huberdeau, the
vision of Nugent-Hopkins and the Brett Hull-esque shot of Mark Scheifele was
good today and I fully expect that as the chemistry continues to develop, the
more productive they will be. The Russians should be on notice because this is
unarguably the most potent line in this tournament. The controversial
suspension to J.C Lipon handed out in
the Slovakia game, controversial because that very same SlBretovak came back and
scored in the same period, has allowed Ty Rattie into a more fulfilling role
with Team Canada. Did he ever deliver as this was by far his best game. Actually, not only was this Rattie’s best
effort, but late substitute Mark McNeill was brilliant on the PK and for the
first time it looked like he truly felt he belonged on this world class stage.
Their battery mate on the third line was Philip Danault, and he complimented
those two well and even found himself initiating scrums on a couple of occasions.
That added pesky-ness is something that will serve coach Steve Spott well as he
will need to deliver a similar approach against quite possibly the best
individual player in the tournament, that title belonging to Russian Nail
Yakupov. Today, they were able to shut down Rocco Grimaldi and Alex Galchenyuk,
and something can be said about that, but anyone who feels there’s even a
slight comparability between those two and Yakupov needs to get their eyes
checked. Rounding out the forward group are Anthony Camara and Brett Ritchie.
It’s becoming noticeable that Spott is using Ritchie in a floating second/fourth
line role where he jumps onto the second line when the time for a physical
element is needed and goes down to the fourth line when more offense needs to
be supplied. Camara didn’t do anything of any significance versus the Americans
but while saying that, he’s shown a great deal of reliability as he has made
very few mistakes.
Ray Ferraro of TSN on one occasion today made the statement
that he felt this was Dougie Hamilton’s best effort by miles. I’m not so sure I
agree with this assessment because what I saw was a player who was pinching at
the wrong times and struggled making a crisp outlet pass. This could be partly
due to U.S.A’s aggressive fore check but a player of that skill level should be
accustomed to tangling through high octane systems. Pure speculation here, but
I’m assuming Ferraro said what he said because even though there were visible
struggles, Dougie also made some plays out there that prove why the Boston
Bruins made the choice they did in the 2011 NHL draft. I’m not saying he was a liability out there,
but there is no question in my mind that he had more noteworthy outings versus
the Germans and Slovaks. For every bad pinch that Hamilton attempted, his
partner in crime Scott Harrington was in the right position to save the day. In
the past I’ve read scouting reports that suggested his foot speed should be a cause
for concern, but I have yet to see a problem. He’ll never put up huge point
totals because you’ll rarely see him deep in the offensive zone, but every team
needs a stay at home rock like Harrington. The WHL’ers on defence stepped up in
a big way today. The Power Play at times has been anemic and it puzzles me to
why Tyler Wotherspoon doesn’t get more PP opportunity. He isn’t flashy and by
no means the most creative defenceman they have on the roster, but his shot is
hard and accurate and he is an extremely good passer. If Pierre McGuire was
still involved with TSN broadcasts, I could almost guaranteed he would’ve
already coined Griffin Reinhart as the “Human Eraser 2”, or something along those
lines as there is an eerily similar comparison to the way he plays the game to
that of Luke Schenn. This may not translate well to the National Hockey League
level as Schenn has definitely had his share of struggles, but as a junior
defenceman he can be physically imposing.
One of the issues that Griffin has faced in this tournament is a lack of
discipline, taking a few careless penalties. There is an obvious adjustment
period for the North Americans, getting used to way international referees officiate
a game. We are through game three already and these are the best juniors in the
world, adjustments should not take this long! For a third straight game, I have
the same concerns with Xavier Ouellet. Patience. Patience.Patience. The Detroit
Red Wing prospect is ultra talented as if he wasn’t he wouldn’t of been named
to this squad, but the rushed decisions that have become common place are
actually leading to odd man rushes the other way. A personal theory on my part,
but maybe because the coaching staff has yet to settle on a permanent partner
for Xavier, that has prevented him from gaining trust with others and has led
to him doing too much too quickly. The pairing of Morgan Rielly and Ryan Murphy
looked lost, and their performance against the Slovaks compared to day was
night and day. Far too many times today did Murphy attempt a breakout that was
thwarted after he crossed center. The Coaching staff has to hammer down to
Murphy that he needs to use his teammates better and if doesn’t start to
listen, his minutes should be drastically cut. It was nearly impossible to get
a fair read off of Morgan Rielly. Was he actually struggling? Or, did his lack
of success and effectiveness go hand in hand with a sub par Ryan Murphy. The
one critique of Rielly this morning is that I’d like him to be a little more
physical in the corners. I realize that’s not what he does best, but in a
tournament such as the WJHC, sometimes it is necessary to step outside your
comfort zone. The perplexing part is that once Rielly has control of the puck
he is very good, so like I was mentioning, if he were to be a little more cagey
in the corners it would allow him more puck possession, which is a win-win for
Canada.
I hope you enjoyed this read, and have enjoyed the
previous reads as I will once again stress the importance of getting more
exposure to this blog. Anyone who is reading this, I would very much appreciate
if you could do everything in your power to get this blog out in the public
eye.
Now for my game rankings…….
1. Ryan
Strome
2. Tyler
Wotherspoon
3. Ryan
Nugent-Hopkins
4. Nathan
MacKinnon
5. Scott
Harrington
6. Ty
Rattie
7. Mark
McNeill
8. Jonathan
Huberdeau
9. Griffin
Reinhart
10. Mark
Scheifele
11. Dougie
Hamilton
12. Brett
Ritchie
13. Philip
Danault
14. Morgan
Rielly
15. Anthony
Camara
16. Xavier
Ouellet
17. Jonathan
Drouin
18. Ryan
Murphy
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