Habs at the WJC

[Quebecois]

Thought this was a good place for us to discuss our prospects at the WJCs.

Joonas Nattinen and the Fins will be taking on team Canada tonight. Apparently he has a good chance of being named Captain.

Danny Kristo and Maxim Trunev are our only other players in the tourney as far as I know, am I missing someone?

Edited December 23, 2009 by Quebecois

[dlbalr]

Thought this was a good place for us to discuss our prosects at the WJCs.

Joonas Nattinen and the Fins will be taking on team Canada tonight. Apparently he has a good chance of being named Captain.

Danny Kristo and Maxim Trunev are our only other players in the tourney as far as I know, am I missing someone?

Petteri Simila is vying to back up Juha Ortio (I think that's his name, pulling his name off the top of my head), we'll probably see him tonight as well.

[KoZed]

Isnt Kristo captain of Team USA?

I'm really going to pay closer attention to Trunev. Kid looks like a bonafide highlight reel machine.

[Chris]

Is Trunev Russain?

Nattinen is on team Finland?

[Quebecois]

Petteri Simila is vying to back up Juha Ortio (I think that's his name, pulling his name off the top of my head), we'll probably see him tonight as well.

I thought Simila was cut but maybe I'm wrong. It looks like Ortio has the number one job locked up anyhow.

Is Trunev Russain?

Nattinen is on team Finland?

Yes and Yes.

Nattinen didn't impress me all that much last night, but it's one game I suppose. He didn't shy away from the physical play which was a positive and created space for himself a couple times, but his skating looked well below average. He wasn't wearing a letter so it looks like I was way off on him being a potential captain.

[JCPetit]

I thought Simila was cut but maybe I'm wrong. It looks like Ortio has the number one job locked up anyhow.

Yes and Yes.

Nattinen didn't impress me all that much last night, but it's one game I suppose. He didn't shy away from the physical play which was a positive and created space for himself a couple times, but his skating looked well below average. He wasn't wearing a letter so it looks like I was way off on him being a potential captain.

Nattinen is a big guy. He doesn't look very fast, but he is quicker on his feet than Latendresse IMO. You're right, he did not shy from physical play. It's hard to evaluate him because, obviously, he plays on a poor team. There are some good skaters with Finland, for sure, but there team play is bad. I don't see them go very far in this tournament.

Let's see what Trunev can do.

[Colin]

McGuire is high on Nattinen - as long as he improves his skating. McGuire is like Mackenzie - they know kids.

I watched 10 minutes of that game. Last world junior game I'll be watching. The hockey was poor and the ambiance was dead - and this was in Canada with the Canadians leading. Holy boredom Batman.

[Quebecois]

I watched 10 minutes of that game. Last world junior game I'll be watching. The hockey was poor and the ambiance was dead - and this was in Canada with the Canadians leading. Holy boredom Batman.

To be fair, it was a pre-tourney game. But I've never been impressed by Calgary crowds, even in the playoffs.

I agree the hockey was poor though. I found myself fast-forwarding between Nattinen's shifts...

[saskhab]

A certain habs, named Sask, will be covering the tournament for Yahoo! Sports. Just saying, you know.

[JMMR]

A certain habs, named Sask, will be covering the tournament for Yahoo! Sports. Just saying, you know.

Nice, very cool how did you land that?

[BCHabnut]

Nice, very cool how did you land that?

when you look at it, it's pretty impressive what some of our bloggers and contributers do in their spare time.

[KoZed]

Nice, very cool how did you land that?

By living in Saskatchewan?!

[Psycing]

McGuire is high on Nattinen - as long as he improves his skating. McGuire is like Mackenzie - they know kids.

I watched 10 minutes of that game. Last world junior game I'll be watching. The hockey was poor and the ambiance was dead - and this was in Canada with the Canadians leading. Holy boredom Batman.

You made your decision based on a preliminary game? Blasphemy! Canada's won 5 straight Golds, no one cares about preliminary!

I still say WJC is some of the best hockey to see during the year. Very exciting once into the real, meaningful games, lol. Latvia tomorrow might be a snoozer.

[dlbalr]

Good news, Petteri Simila did crack Team Finland as their backup, so there are 4 Hab prospects in total at the tournament.

I've set up our StatTracker for the tourney: http://www.habsworld.net/article.php?id=1940

[saskhab]

By living in Saskatchewan?!

Pretty much! James Mirtle recommended me to Yahoo!, and it was pretty easy from that point. They wanted a local.

[dlbalr]

StatTracker on the site now has the final stats entered.

Also interesting to note (but not new thread worthy), Petteri Simila (Finland) has been dealt from his OHL team in Niagara to Barrie as part of a monster deal also involving Alex Pietrangelo according to the OHL's site (he's on Barrie's roster all of a sudden). As a Colts fan, I can tell you right now that this won't do much for his development as he likely won't see too many games behind the incumbent starter...heck, I wonder if he'll even be the backup.

Also, an interesting read about Team Russia's turmoils including Maxim Trunev:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/322139-...y-russia-in-wjc

[saskhab]

StatTracker on the site now has the final stats entered.

Also interesting to note (but not new thread worthy), Petteri Simila (Finland) has been dealt from his OHL team in Niagara to Barrie as part of a monster deal also involving Alex Pietrangelo according to the OHL's site (he's on Barrie's roster all of a sudden). As a Colts fan, I can tell you right now that this won't do much for his development as he likely won't see too many games behind the incumbent starter...heck, I wonder if he'll even be the backup.

Also, an interesting read about Team Russia's turmoils including Maxim Trunev:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/322139-...y-russia-in-wjc

Simila let in the worst goal I saw all tournament in that Russia-Finland game. The weakest little trickler through his five-hole.

As for Russia, the coach sure did a number on them. Guess who was standing just outside the media area post-game (in the stairway), seemingly waiting for somebody? Scott Howson.

The Russian fallout from this tournament was a surprising story on what was supposed to be a dull Monday featuring 3 meaningless games.

[sakiqc]

StatTracker on the site now has the final stats entered.

Also interesting to note (but not new thread worthy), Petteri Simila (Finland) has been dealt from his OHL team in Niagara to Barrie as part of a monster deal also involving Alex Pietrangelo according to the OHL's site (he's on Barrie's roster all of a sudden). As a Colts fan, I can tell you right now that this won't do much for his development as he likely won't see too many games behind the incumbent starter...heck, I wonder if he'll even be the backup.

Also, an interesting read about Team Russia's turmoils including Maxim Trunev:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/322139-...y-russia-in-wjc

Interesting bit concerning Trunev. Too bad for him