2012 WJC prospect watch

[blny]

Thought I'd throw up a thread to discuss Habs prospects and their play at the WJC this year.

Last night saw Canada play Finland in their first pre tournament game. Bournival and Gallagher played good games. Played together for most of it. Cycled the puck well and showed solid chemistry. Gallagher scored a lunch pale goal to make it 3-1. Beaulieu showed his skill at times.

Overall, it's going to be hard work that this team wins by.

[NWTHabsFan]

If you missed last night's game and just cannot get enough junior hockey, here is a link for the TSN broadband feed of the game.

watch.tsn.ca/world-jr-championship-games-on-demand/pre-competition-canada-vs-finland/#clip588205

The Gallagher/Bournival goal was all about hard work and going hard to the net. Nice to see.

[Disp]

I heard someone say that Gallagher's motor never stops. It's true, impressive. Fearless as well. Too bad he's not bigger, but then he'd have never drafted as late as he was.

[blny]

I think Gallagher will be another Gionta, only with better hands.

[NWTHabsFan]

Pribyl scored in the Czech's exhibition game against Latvia last night in Okotoks (I saw it reported that he had a goal and two assists in the 7-1 win).

Tinordi was a healthy scratch in Red Deer last night as the USA took on Russia. The US play another game tonight against the Swiss in Camrose (where the USA camp is being held). Final cuts are tomorrow as the roster still sits at 28 players.

[seventeen]

Is the fact he was not in the line-up good news, as in he's locked up a spot already?

[NWTHabsFan]

Dec 21, 2011 15:36:13 GMT -5 seventeen said:

Is the fact he was not in the line-up good news, as in he's locked up a spot already?

Tinordi wearing the C tonight. They will not their captain until the final roster is set tomorrow...but wearing a letter in the last game before the final cuts is a good sign in my books.

[seventeen]

I would think that is a sign he is definitely in. So that's 5 prospects in this tournament?

[NWTHabsFan]

Dec 22, 2011 2:19:30 GMT -5 seventeen said:

I would think that is a sign he is definitely in. So that's 5 prospects in this tournament?

USA Hockey confirmed its final roster this morning, and as expected, Tinordi is on the team! Quite a nice bit of redemption after being an early cut last season. He has a history of wearing a letter for his country as he also wore the C as part of the U18 team. Not sure yet what letter he is wearing this time.

Yes, that is five Habs' prospects confirmed for the tournament:

Canada - Bournival, Beaulieu, and Gallagher.
USA - Tinordi.
Czech Republic - Pribyl.

All five kids will be in the Edmonton based round robin pool, so they will get good TV coverage as the Czechs and Americans will both play Canada in the round robin...and all those games are televised. In addition, a few of their other games are on TV as well.

www.tsn.ca/world_jrs/feature/?id=11970

[NWTHabsFan]

USA Hockey confirmed today that Tinordi will be wearing an "A" for the tournament. Congratulations on being recognized for his leadership on his team....but still hope he loses to Canada!!

p.s. CAN-SWE tonight is on TSN, and it should be a good one. Filip Forsberg (#16) is currently ranked third by ISS for the upcoming draft, behind only Yakupov and Grigorenko. Colberg (#15) and Aberg (#27) are also likely middle first rounders. This is a good young team.

[Willie Dog]

Dec 23, 2011 15:34:01 GMT -5 NWTHabsFan said:

USA Hockey confirmed today that Tinordi will be wearing an "A" for the tournament. Congratulations on being recognized for his leadership on his team....but still hope he loses to Canada!!

p.s. CAN-SWE tonight is on TSN, and it should be a good one. Filip Forsberg (#16) is currently ranked third by ISS for the upcoming draft, behind only Yakupov and Grigorenko. Colberg (#15) and Aberg (#27) are also likely middle first rounders. This is a good young team.

That's great news for the big guy. More experience against the best offensive players in the world at their age group is all good.

Nice to see Gallagher and Bournival together on the same line with Howden for Team Canada. Will be fun to see how they play together. Hopefully we get to see some magic.

[NWTHabsFan]

Dec 23, 2011 16:37:00 GMT -5 Willie Dog said:

Dec 23, 2011 15:34:01 GMT -5 NWTHabsFan said:

USA Hockey confirmed today that Tinordi will be wearing an "A" for the tournament. Congratulations on being recognized for his leadership on his team....but still hope he loses to Canada!!

p.s. CAN-SWE tonight is on TSN, and it should be a good one. Filip Forsberg (#16) is currently ranked third by ISS for the upcoming draft, behind only Yakupov and Grigorenko. Colberg (#15) and Aberg (#27) are also likely middle first rounders. This is a good young team.

That's great news for the big guy. More experience against the best offensive players in the world at their age group is all good.

Nice to see Gallagher and Bournival together on the same line with Howden for Team Canada. Will be fun to see how they play together. Hopefully we get to see some magic.

Just donning the red and white for tonight's game. Heading out to cheer on the lads. Tune in on TSN for some awesome hockey!

[habsfaninphx]

Was a little surprised when Gallagher was on the 3rd line in the first couple pre-season games, well no more, this kid has been a dynamo tonight, after going down 4-1 he scores and then sets up a short hander to make it 4-3. I think maybe Mr. Hay was worried about putting his own player too high up on the depth chart, but this kid is such a gamer that I kinda had a feeling he'd make a name for himself in this tournament. After watching him dominate in NHL pre-season it doesn't surprise me at all to see him playing with Schwartz and being put out there to create and score. He's gonna be a special player for our Habs, soon.

[seventeen]

I for one, am very pleased with the play of our Canadian prospects so far. Bournival has looked really quick, and smart. He hasn't made any mistakes and I think he's ready for better things. Hopefully Hay feels the same way, Can he ever skate!

Gallagher is such a motivating player. A goal and an assist against Sweden tonight, and more than that, he inspired with his drive and desire. There's absolutely no quit in that kid. What I also loved that almost every time he shot, it was up high. Yes! A player who actually roofs it almost every time. He's not afraid to take a hit, he makes good plays, he shoots. There's a lot to like about him.

If you think that's great, I saved the best for last. Along with Oleksiak (and playing with him for a good chunk of the game), Beaulieu was the best defenseman on the Canadian team. He made some fine defensive plays (he's really hard to beat one on one because he skates so well), but his really talent is with the outlet pass. He made so many cool plays today and in one instance, sent Howden off on a near break by putting the puck past about 5 players between he and Howden. Awesome pass and not one just anyone can make. On another play, he corralled a bouncing puck, in the crease, with a Swede right on him. and ever so coolly, backhanded it softly behind himself to the side boards, where his d-mate was the closest guy. In fact, it took his partner by surprise, so he didn't go for the puck as quickly as he might. It reminded me of Markov, who surprised his own teammates with so many passes, because they didn't think he'd do that, or didn't think he could do that. He had a terrific game. Doug Hamilton? Who's he? I think the scouting guys picked another gem.

On the game itself, Mark Visentin was in for all 4 goals against. It was hard to fault him on any of the goals and you'll hear that, and it's true, but I can't help being reminded of the movie, Master and Commander, with Russell Crowe, when Visentin comes up. One of the characters in the movie, a mate, who's not that good, is certain he's seen another ship in the fog. No one really believes him because they don't have much respect for him. He's actually right, but a ton of things go wrong for the crew and they end up blaming this guy. None of those things are his fault. The final straw is the ship is stranded in the doldrums for weeks on end. It depresses this guy, he jumps overboard with a cannonball tied to his leg, killing himself. The wind immediately picks up and everything starts to go right, on the ship. Visentin is that guy. I'd be playing Woodbridge the rest of the way, until he falls apart. Visentin is just bad luck. Not his fault, but the team loses when he plays, in the clutch. They fell apart against Russia in last year's final because Visentin couldn't make a big save, and it happened again today. Go with your gut, Don, sit him.

[duster]

An enjoyable pre-tournament game. It came pretty close to being a tie game. I noticed things changed when the likes of Smith-Pelly and Scheifele started hitting every Swede in sight at the beginning of the second period. It forced the Swedish players to rush their plays since they knew they were about to get hit hard and they started making mistakes.

Man, I wish our Habs could play that way. Does Don Hay speak French?

I was very impressed with Beaulieu as well. He looked pretty good paired with Hamilton. Gallagher I've seen play a few times with the Giants so I wasn't all that surprised. I hope his skating doesn't mean he turns into another Corey Locke.

I think we're in for a terrific tournament.

[blny]

A couple of tactical mistakes last night imo. Falls on the coach. After Sweden scored their second goal, Hay should have called a time out. After the first, there's no way I send Visentin back out. Even on the pucks that didn't go in, he looked as if he couldn't stop a beach ball.

Devante Smith-Pelly has a beast mode that no one in this tournament will match. He had at least 9 hits last night, and none of them were gentle.

[seventeen]

Hay is a good coach. It was an exhibition game after all, and as a coach, I'd like to see how my team responds in adversity, and I think he wanted to give Visentin a chance to gain some confidence. They said later that the plan was to play each goalie half the game and if that was the case, you wouldn't pull Visentin until midway. I don't fault Hay for the loss. It showed, to me at least, that if your goalie can make a big save, as Wedgwood did, the team responds, as they did. I'm curious to see who starts today though. If we were playing Denmark, I'd say Visentin, but Finland can be tough, so I'll guess Wedgwood.

I agree about Smith-Pelly. He looks like a good prospect.

[NWTHabsFan]

Gallagher makes it 2-0!!

[habsfaninphx]

Gally!!!

[habsfaninphx]

WHL players get the first two goals, I was surprised when they said I think there were only 5 western players on a Don Hay team. So far they're making a big impact.

[NWTHabsFan]

Gallagher takes a boarding penalty. Someone forgot to tell him he is too small. Needs to stay out of the box though.

[franko]

sis-in-law was at the Finland-Canada game in Calgary. talking up Gallagher as an amazing player. quite disappointed when I mentioned he's a Habs prospect.

btw: her evaluation of the team -- solid o, questionable d.

[NWTHabsFan]

Beaulieu with an assist on the PP goal to make it 4-1.

[habsfaninphx]

I'm not a big fan of the running up of the score that they do in this tournament. 7 goals, I count 5 at least by the WHL guys, haven't noticed Beaulieu too much or Bournival, but have noticed hands of Stone and Gallagher

[NWTHabsFan]

Think Gallagher got a helper on that 8th goal.

Edit: Beaulieu with a cross checking minor that doesn't always get called in the CHL.

Edit2: Gallagher ends up with the GWG.

Up next is Tinordi and the USA against Eller's younger brother and team Denmark. Game is on TSN2 at 6 pm mountain, 8 pm eastern. My first time seeing Tinordi live...just been on tv up to this point.

[seventeen]

Bournival and Beaulieu (our killer B's), were quiet today. Gallagher was noisy enough. An aspect of his game that hasn't been mentioned, but was very evident, is how good a passer he is. His passes are not only on the money, they have a very nice touch to them, so they're easy for the receiver to handle them. And I love that he thinks he's 6' 8" tall. He kept hitting these Finnish monsters on defense. I think he actually moved them a couple of times. Not far, but I could swear they went backward about an inch or two. Less distance than Gallagher bounced back. ;D It's the attitude that counts, right?

Bournival and Beaulieu could have had first game jitters. No big mistakes, but no creativity either.

That Boone Jenner can sure win face-offs, huh? I'd keep tabs on him in case we could ever get him in a minor deal or as part of a major one.

I'm glad that Visentin played ok, but I'm still not comfortable when he's in net.

[Disp]

Dec 26, 2011 18:30:26 GMT -5 seventeen said:

I'm glad that Visentin played ok, but I'm still not comfortable when he's in net.

Yup, I don't have a whole lot of confidence in him. The guys in charge seem to like him though . I think there is a lot of goalies in the chl that are probably wondering "why not me?"

[blny]

The B's are on the 4th line and 7th D (to start the game). Beaulieu moved up to a regular shift as the game wore on. He seems to be getting primarily PP time though.

Stone is quite the slot presence. 3 goals tonight. Huberdeau looks good considering he hadn't played in 7 weeks.

Losing Smith-Pelly is going to hurt us in the later games. He left after blocking a shot. He went to the hospital on crutches and an air cast. Not a good sign.

Edit: Looks like a fractured foot for Smith-Pelly. His tournament is over.

[oldhabsfan]

Dec 26, 2011 18:30:26 GMT -5 seventeen said:

Gallagher .... I love that he thinks he's 6' 8" tall.

For a little guy (or even a medium-sized guy) he sure spends a lot of time wrestling defencemen in front of the net. I can think of some NHLers who could take lessons.

[NWTHabsFan]

Tinordi with a goal tonight in their lopsided 11-3 win over the Danes. He played a solid enough game, but it is hard to gauge fully as the game was so one sided. He is solid defensively, uses his reach well, and skates well and has decent mobility. He makes a good hard pass, and seems to have decent enough hockey sense. His goal was from about the top of the circle, and appeared to go in cleanly.

EDIT: Canada losing Smith-Pelly for the tournament is huge. They don't have anyone else on the roster that plays that style of game. Opposing defenders must be breathing a collective sigh of relief.