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2014 World Junior Championships Thread


dlbalr

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The 2014 World Juniors are almost upon us with exhibition games having already begun with the main tournament set to start on the 26th. The Habs will be very well represented with the following players who either have already, or have a chance at being named to their respective countries' teams:

Canada: Zach Fucale, Charles Hudon

Finland: Artturi Lehkonen

Slovakia: Martin Reway

Sweden: Sebastian Collberg, Jacob de la Rose

Links:

HabsWorld's StatTracker: http://www.habsworld.net/article.php?id=3283

Tournament Website: http://www.worldjunior2014.com/

TSN/TSN 2 Broadcast Schedule: http://www.tsn.ca/world_jrs/feature/?id=4124

NHL Network (US) Broadcast Schedule: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=695682&navid=nhl:topheads

Full Tournament Schedule: http://www.worldjunior2014.com/en/games/

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I watched the CAN-FIN game exhibition game today, my quick thoughts:

- Fucale didn't help his cause. Yes, he only allowed two but he was fighting the puck for most of the game. He looked small in the net far too often and also benefited from several goal posts.

- Hudon didn't play much but was effective. It's quite concerning that he appears to be one of the bubble players; I got the impression from the extended pre-game that the thought is he may be on the outside looking in.

- Lehkonen was decent but his linemate (Teravainen) stole the show. At the very least, Lehkonen fits in well on Finland's top line and should be one of their better players in the tournament.

TSN also has US-SWE coming up in a half hour, featuring Collberg and de la Rose.

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Watching the game, Josh Anderson has to be one of the cuts IMO, the other I'm not sure, but I'd lean toward Girard.

The idea that Anderson is a lock on the team is lost on me watching him. I don't think he's as good as some others. The idea that Shinkaruk/Mantha are competing for one spot and anderson is a lock? comical Imo.

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Watching the game, Josh Anderson has to be one of the cuts IMO, the other I'm not sure, but I'd lean toward Girard.

The idea that Anderson is a lock on the team is lost on me watching him. I don't think he's as good as some others. The idea that Shinkaruk/Mantha are competing for one spot and anderson is a lock? comical Imo.

I cant see how Shinkaruk isn't good enough, but haven't seen him play since pre-season? I thought he and Petan would of helped last year over the "big-grinders' on the big ice.

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I cant see how Shinkaruk isn't good enough, but haven't seen him play since pre-season?

He doesn't look right out there, I'm thinking he's playing through some sort of injury.

A couple of thoughts from the Sweden game:

- Collberg has an offensive zone mentality of 'see puck, shoot puck.' He passed off a few times but it's easy to tell he's a sniper. His line (with Wennberg and Johnson) was terrific, all three of them played quite well.

- de la Rose was fairly quiet I thought. He was slower than I seemed to remember from the last WJC. His size and puck protection stood out to me in a good way though.

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He doesn't look right out there, I'm thinking he's playing through some sort of injury.

A couple of thoughts from the Sweden game:

- Collberg has an offensive zone mentality of 'see puck, shoot puck.' He passed off a few times but it's easy to tell he's a sniper. His line (with Wennberg and Johnson) was terrific, all three of them played quite well.

- de la Rose was fairly quiet I thought. He was slower than I seemed to remember from the last WJC. His size and puck protection stood out to me in a good way though.

Collberg made an highlight reel goal vs the US. Will be great to see how he fares in this WJC.

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Hudon certainly didn't help his cause. He had a couple of giveaways early and didn't see much ice time after that until the end. If it's down to him and Girard for the final spot as has been speculated...he could be in trouble.

I was really impressed with both Collberg and de la Rose. Collberg's speed and puck control in particular stood out while he still had his shoot first mentality. de la Rose had some good plays in the offensive zone and was strong on the puck the whole game.

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Hudon made a huge check after the play died out once, caused a little scrum. Good to see a bit of fire from him anyway, and that despite his smaller size around 5-10 he's pretty solid. Canada as a whole had a terrible game, Hudon wasn't bad but wasn't good enough either.

I was impressed most with De La Rose. He almost had a couple goals alongside his assist, one almost being a short-handed goal. I honestly think this guy will be the perfect two way bottom six guy for us in 3 years or so. Size, speed, smarts, and even a little skill. Kind of like a bigger, slightly more talented Prust minus the fighting.

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Tough break for the Habs prospects on Canada. Still, both Hudon and Fucale could find themselves playing more prominent roles by the end of the tournament. Hudon needs to find a way to contribute more while the starting role will be Patterson's role to lose. Have to think everyone's confident in Fucale's abilities to take over if that happens.

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Yeah agreed - I'd said something similar early today. I was just hoping we'd get to see him in action for more than one pre-tournament match.

The way Canada's goalies have been in recent years, he may get his chance before too long. I don't think Paterson has a stranglehold on the starter job by any means.

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Best we don't look at Fucale how we looked at Price. I think at draft we knew he'd take some work. He'll probably develop a lot like how Jack Campbell developed from Windsor to Texas with several World Juniors appearances.

(Only reason I thought of Campbell is I used to know his girlfriend haha)

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Best we don't look at Fucale how we looked at Price. I think at draft we knew he'd take some work. He'll probably develop a lot like how Jack Campbell developed from Windsor to Texas with several World Juniors appearances.

(Only reason I thought of Campbell is I used to know his girlfriend haha)

The first World Junior after Price was drafted.... Price did not make the team. The starter in the 2006 tournament was Justin Pogge.

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