Canada – 8	FINAL	Switzerland – 0
WJHC 2011 Pre-competition Game 1
Canada were silver medal winners in 2010
Switzerland were 4th place in 2010
Date: Dec 20 @ 5:00 PM MST
TV: TSN2

Well here it is.. this is something I look forward to every year. My Christmas isn’t actually Christmas and opening presents, but the World Junior Hockey Championships. I absolutely love this tournament. As far as I’m concerned, there is no better hockey to be seen at any time during the year than this tournament. These kids lay it all on the line during this tourney. It’s fast, it’s physical, and it’s just all around entertaining, serious hockey. The kind of hockey that would upset the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Swiss have some returnees from last year, of course, with the biggest names being goaltender Benjamin Conz (who wooed many with some unorthodox, yet strong goaltending) and Nino Niederreiter, who wasn’t even on most peoples’ radars before the tournament but quickly became a household name afterwords by his incredible work ethic. Conz is undrafted and will look to make a case for that, but Niederreiter Continue reading 'WJHC 2011 GDT – Canada 8, Switzerland 0 – Pre-Comp 1 – 2010-12-20 @ 5:00PM MST – TSN2'»

Canada 5 (Silver)	FINAL	USA 6 (GOLD)
WJHC Gold Medal Final
Canada defeats Switzerland 6-1 to earn berth in final
USA defeats Sweden 5-2 to earn berth in final
Date: Jan 5 @ 6:00 PM MST
TV: TSN

UPDATE: Updated with results, awards, post-game rant and more… read on.

PRE-GAME RANT

Will that picture be re-created tonight, perhaps with Jordan Eberle the subject? Let’s hope so. The Canadians barely squeaked off a shootout win against the USA on New Years Eve. The Americans look to be the best match for the offensive Canadians (not to be confused with the other meaning of the word “offensive”, often used with the Oilers as of late). The Americans play a very strong, tight neutral zone game. I suppose you could call it a trap, but it’s smart hockey. The Canadians had a lot of trouble getting passes through the neutral zone. They also have been having some difficulty with their powerplay and have changed it up a bit, giving them another option.

Anyways, there also is an Oilers GDT thread out there (below this one). But I have to wonder why anyone in the world would watch that game over this one. This is exciting hockey folks. Even if the Oilers were doing well, this is what hockey is all about. Tune in for sure.
Continue reading 'WJHC GDT (FINAL) – Canada 5 vs. USA 6 – Jan 5, 2010 @ 6:00PM MST – Gold Medal Greatness'»

Canada 6	FINAL	Switzerland 1
WJHC Semifinal #1
Canada Record: 4-0-0, bye to semifinal
Switzerland Record: 3-2-0, defeated Russia to reach semifinal
Date: Jan 3 @ 3:00 PM MST
TV: TSN

PRE-GAME RANT

That picture is of Nino Niederreiter, the Swiss forward who has been garnering a fair bit of attention this tourney, and the player that helped the Swiss to the unthinkable – a victory over the Russians. Get used to that face, because we’re going to see a fair bit of him in Sunday’s game.

This isn’t the first meeting between the two teams this tournament. Canada beat the Swiss 6-0 the first time they met, in the preliminary round. But even so, I hope the Canadians take them seriously. Look for a more inspired game from the Swiss and perhaps a tighter game.

I expect the Canadians will win this one though. My prediction is 7-2. I think the Swiss have a strong, hardworking, blue-collar team. But the Canadian powerplay is just unbelievable right now. It is currently at 43.3%. The Swiss are going to have to play a very disciplined hockey game if they hope to take down the Canadians. Of course that PP stat is inflated, having unloaded on a couple of lesser teams. But if I’m coaching another team in this tourney, I don’t want to face that powerplay.

Here are the Oilers Prospects stats: Continue reading 'WJHC GDT – Canada 6 vs. Switzerland 1 – Jan 3, 2010 @ 3:00PM MST – Semifinal'»

I hope you’re all having a good 2010 so far and that the last party of 2009 was so memorable for you that you can’t remember it.

So, the preliminary round of the 2009 World Junior Hockey Championships have concluded, so we’ll take a look at how our Oilers prospects have faired. First off, for players of the game, Jordan Eberle has earned this award twice (vs. Switzerland and USA), Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson (vs. Czech Republic) and Teemu Hartikainen (vs. Russia) have each received the honor once.

Jordan Eberle is leading the way in scoring with 10 points (5 goals, 5 assists) with Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson one point behind with 9 points (3 goals, 6 assists). Svensson also scored a very nice goal yesterday against the Finns, in which he skated through pretty much the entire line and stepped in the zone and beat the goaltender with a nice shot. We can’t be excited about today’s team, but we can definitely be excited about tomorrow’s.

So here are the stats for the tourney at this point… Continue reading 'WJHC – Preliminary round wraps up'»

Canada	vs.	USA
Game 4 of the WJHC Prelimary Round
Canada Record: 3-0-0
USA Record: 3-0-0
Date: December 31 @ 6:00 PM MST
TV: TSN

This should be the first real test for Canada. Are the Americans up to the challenge though? I think this should be a pretty exciting and physical game. So it’ll be tough to switch over to the Oilers game to watch the BoA part 2 (for the week). But thankfully, through the miracle of PVR, I can watch both games.. just not live.

And remember… the chant is “GO CANADA GO!”, not “Eh, oh Canada Go”. Don’t bow down to Pepsi!

EDMONTON OILERS PROSPECT WATCH
Player	Team	G	A	PTS	+/-
Jordan Eberle		3	5	8	+3
Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson		2	6	8	+5
Anton Lander		2	2	4	+3
Toni Rajala		1	2	3	+1
Teemu Hartikainen		2	1	3	0