2013 World Junior Championships

[NWTHabsFan]

Most countries have announced their preliminary rosters (or in cases like Team Canada - their fairly large selection camp rosters), so I thought it would be time to open a thread for discussion on this holiday season tradition.

Three Habs' prospects are in the mix to make the final roster for their respective nation, and all three were named to the initial roster this week.

Alex Galchenyuk - USA
Sebastian Collberg - Sweden
Charles Hudon - Canada

Both the US and Swedish teams are such that they will likely only make a few cuts, so both Galchenyuk and Collberg are close to locks right now. Hudon faces a very stacked and deep Canadian roster, as their invite list to their selection camp is at 37 players right now, so still lots of cuts to come before they head overseas.

The games are being held this year in Ufa, Russia, so the live broadcasts will be in the middle of the night for us folks back in North America. Here is the most recent broadcast schedule from TSN. TSN will show replays of the Canada games, so that is great. If you look at the schedule, Canada gets the US and Russia in back to back nights...a tough test in a short tournament.

We could be in for a treat if all the best U20 kids are available for this tournament, as many are often committed to their NHL teams. Even if thr lockout ends before the start of this tournament, it is always a great showcase of junior age talent.

2013 World Junior Hockey Championship
DATE EVENT TIME ET/PT NETWORK

Thursday, December 20
Canada vs. Finland (Pre-Competition) 9:30am/6:30am TSN
USA vs. Sweden (Pre-Competition) 12:30pm/9:30am TSN
Canada vs. Finland (Pre-Competition)* 7:30pm/4:30pm TSN
USA vs. Sweden (Pre-Competition)* Midnight/9pm TSN2

Friday, December 21
Canada vs. Finland (Pre-Competition)* Midnight/9pm TSN2

Saturday, December 22
Finland vs. USA (Pre-Competition) 6am/3am TSN
Canada vs. Sweden (Pre-Competition) 9am/6am TSN
Canada vs. Sweden (Pre-Competition)* 7pm/4pm TSN2
Finland vs. USA (Pre-Competition)* 9:30pm/6:30pm TSN2

Sunday, December 23
Finland vs. USA (Pre-Competition)* 3:30am/12:30am TSN2
Canada vs. Sweden (Pre-Competition)* 6am/3am TSN2

Monday, December 24
World Junior Preview Show 7pm/4pm TSN

Wednesday, December 26
Canada vs. Germany 4am/1am TSN
Slovakia vs. Russia 9am/6am TSN
Canada vs. Germany* 1:30pm/10:30am TSN

Thursday, December 27
USA vs. Germany 9am/6am TSN

Friday, December 28
Canada vs. Slovakia 4am/1am TSN
Russia vs. USA 9am/6am TSN
Canada vs. Slovakia* 1:30pm/10:30am TSN

Saturday, December 29
Germany vs. Russia 9am/6am TSN

Sunday, December 30
Canada vs. USA 4am/1am TSN
Slovakia vs. Germany 9am/6am TSN2
Canada vs. USA* 8pm/5pm TSN2

Monday, December 31
USA vs. Slovakia 5am/2am TSN
Canada vs. Russia 8:30am/5:30am TSN
Canada vs. Russia* 1:30pm/10:30am TSN
Canada vs. Russia* 7:30pm/4:30pm TSN

Wednesday, January 2
Quarterfinal 1 4am/1am TSN
Quarterfinal 2 7:30am/4:30am TSN
Quarterfinal 1* 1:30pm/10:30am TSN
Quarterfinal 2* 10:30pm/7:30pm TSN

Thursday, January 3
Semifinal 1 4am/1am TSN
Semifinal 2 7:30am/4:30am TSN
Semifinal 1* 1:30pm/10:30am TSN
Semifinal 2* 7:30pm/4:30pm TSN

Saturday, January 5
Bronze Medal Game 4am/1am TSN
Gold Medal Game 7:30am/4:30am TSN
Gold Medal Game* 7:30pm/4:30pm TSN


* - Encore Presenation

[NWTHabsFan]

Hudon named to the final roster!

Pretty amazing for a 18 year old fifth rounder in a lockout year with potentially nhl calibre kids available.

Congrats Charles!!

[seventeen]

That really is terrific for the young man. Now before we all start penciling him in to lead us to the promised land, keep in mind that a lot of very good WJC players never make it to the NHL. John Slaney is one example I can think of (Blunden being another). Some of these guys can excel at the WJC, but lack whatever it takes (size, quickness, smarts) to raise their game to the next level.

Charles has taken one more step along the path, so I hope he can continue to make those leaps and eventually make the Habs and contribute to the 25th Stanley Cup Championship. Yes! (or maybe the 26th or 27th, if we get better really fast).

[NWTHabsFan]

A little pre-tourney hockey anyone?

Thursday, December 20th.

Canada (Hudon) vs Finland. 9:30am ET live, replay at 7:30pm ET both on TSN.

How about a chance to see both Galchenyuk and Collberg in the same game?

US (Gally) vs Sweden (Collberg). 12:30pm ET live on TSN, replay at midnight on TSN2.

[seventeen]

will record both and watch the first while the second is taping. Efficiency.

[NWTHabsFan]

Collberg wears #15

Galchenyuk wears #15

[NWTHabsFan]

Some good news for Team USA and Gally fans, the Habs will leave Gally at the World Juniors even if a new CBA deal is reached while the tournament is still on.

Great stuff...let the kid show his stuff on the world stage. Pretty key in his continued development. The tourney is over on January 5th anyway. At the current pace of "negotiations", there is not much risk.

www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=412012

[seventeen]

Rusty start for Canada, but that is to be expected. As McKenzie said, a lot of the top players didn't play much in the 'selection' camp, so they're still getting their timing, as well as having to adjust to the pathetic officiating. I understand the IIHF is about to bring out a new penalty, 2 minutes for sneering. Sometimes, I think they're already calling that. The refs just won't let the kids play. They called iffy stuff on both teams. Twits.

Anyway, besides being rusty, I was grossly underwhelmed by Malcolm Subban. Jitters maybe, but I can't help thinking he's just kinda small and no matter how fast his reflexes are, there's a lot of space between him and the posts and bar. I think two of the goals were stoppable, but perhaps he's still adjusting to the time change. I know that it's been a long time since I've felt comfortable with a Canadian WJC goalie.

Finland were certainly a big team and they outmuscled us more than once. The trick to beating big teams is to outskate them and execute the transition game to perfection. The kids aren't there yet, but give them a couple more games and it will get better. I thought Hudon had a good game and should have been give a penalty shot on the play where the Finn took out the net before Chuck put it in.

The Finns rested 3 of their top players, but offsetting that is the fact their roster is not set, yet, so anyone dressed would have huge incentive to play hard to make the team. Not so much for Canada.

NWT, are you impressed at all with Schiefele? I don't care for him at all. He scored on a great set up from RNH, but other than that, I found little to like. And that's not just from today. He didn't impress me in a couple of NHL games I saw last year, either.

[franko]

Dec 20, 2012 14:01:27 GMT -5 NWTHabsFan said:

At the current pace of "negotiations", there is not much risk.

no risk at all now

[franko]

Dec 20, 2012 17:14:32 GMT -5 seventeen said:

are you impressed at all with Schiefele? I don't care for him at all. He scored on a great set up from RNH, but other than that, I found little to like. And that's not just from today. He didn't impress me in a couple of NHL games I saw last year, either.

saw him up close and personal in the OHL playoffs last year. thought he was a Vinny twin.

[seventeen]

Dec 20, 2012 20:39:34 GMT -5 franko said:

Dec 20, 2012 17:14:32 GMT -5 seventeen said:

are you impressed at all with Schiefele? I don't care for him at all. He scored on a great set up from RNH, but other than that, I found little to like. And that's not just from today. He didn't impress me in a couple of NHL games I saw last year, either.

saw him up close and personal in the OHL playoffs last year. thought he was a Vinny twin.

Is that good or bad? Lecavalier at the top of his game or my cousin Vinny?

[franko]

Vinny 2.0: mad skill with extended bouts of invisibility.

[NWTHabsFan]

Dec 20, 2012 17:14:32 GMT -5 seventeen said:

NWT, are you impressed at all with Schiefele? I don't care for him at all. He scored on a great set up from RNH, but other than that, I found little to like. And that's not just from today. He didn't impress me in a couple of NHL games I saw last year, either.

Still underwhelmed, but on paper, a line with him, RNH and Huberdeau should be the best in the tourney.

IMO Subban should be the number three when the official tourney opens, but alas he won't be due to his name and when he was drafted. He may end up being the best of the three long term, but he has not been good in the selection camp or tonight. You go with the hot hand, and he is cold.

[seventeen]

Yeah, that's the way I see it. I hope Binnington is hot against Sweden. We need a goalie to step up and pick up the confidence level of the team.

[Skilly]

Dec 20, 2012 13:36:10 GMT -5 NWTHabsFan said:

Galchenyuk wears #15

Finally, a player worthy of Bobby Smith's old number

[seventeen]

AG had a decent game against Sweden. He had about 4 really good chances in close but didn't score. On one play, the d-man's jock is still in row 54. The skill level is obviously there and the points will come.

Collberg's name was mentioned a lot in the game, because he was active. A play I was very impressed with was when one of his dmen got caught up ice and the US had a 2 on 1. Collberg got back in time to pester one of the US players and ended up having the shot hit him in the leg as he was right in front of the net at the time. Not many scorers will backcheck like that.

Connor Murphy, Galchy's teammate on Sarnia, and son of Gord Murphy, had a very strong game. He was drafted by PHoenix in 2011, first round.

I'm looking forward to the Canada Sweden game.

[NWTHabsFan]

Dec 21, 2012 11:06:21 GMT -5 seventeen said:

AG had a decent game against Sweden. He had about 4 really good chances in close but didn't score. On one play, the d-man's jock is still in row 54. The skill level is obviously there and the points will come.

Collberg's name was mentioned a lot in the game, because he was active. A play I was very impressed with was when one of his dmen got caught up ice and the US had a 2 on 1. Collberg got back in time to pester one of the US players and ended up having the shot hit him in the leg as he was right in front of the net at the time. Not many scorers will backcheck like that.

Connor Murphy, Galchy's teammate on Sarnia, and son of Gord Murphy, had a very strong game. He was drafted by PHoenix in 2011, first round.

I'm looking forward to the Canada Sweden game.

What made Galchenyuk's game more impressive was the fact that he was playing most of the game with guys fighting for those last roster spots, so not exactly the skilled type of linemates that will make him look even better. Housley was even double shifting him at the end. I think he is going to have a really wonderful tournament.

Collberg showed some real skill at times, and he is expected to be centred by high 2013 draft prospect Elias Lindholm who sat this past game out. They could form a very dynamic duo for this event. I did notice a few offensive zone turnovers by him and some lazy backcheck, but he was very good on that play that you referred to 17 as he likely stopped a US forward from a clear shot alone in front of the net. I thought that Sebastien deserved a secondary assist on Sweden's first goal, as it was his first pass that started the play and led to that "softie" shot that got by the goalie early in the first.

Hudon had a decent game, and is likely going to be part of that third line with Jenner and Lipon. He also was on the first wave of the PK. He had a great chance where he made some nifty moves and scored what should have been a highlight reel goal, if not for the Finnish guy taking the net of its moorings (yes he was called for delay of game). He made a nice pass on what ended up being Griffin Reinhart's rebound goal. He is suffering from a back injury so will miss tomorrow's pre-tourney game. Hope it is nothing more serious.

Next up, some more pre-tournament games on Saturday.

Finland vs USA (Gally) is live at 6:00 am ET on TSN and replayed at a much more reasonable hour of 9:30 pm on TSN2.

Canada vs Sweden (Collberg) will be live at 9:00 am ET on TSN and replayed at 7:00 pm ET on Saturday night - the same time as our second Bulldogs televised game of the weekend!



EDIT: DARN IT....Charles Hudon's lower back injury is serious enough that he is being sent home, and Mark McNeill of the PA Raiders will be taking his spot. First the kid gets named to the team and is on top of the world, then he gets sent home before the tournament even starts. Well, it does not diminish his accomplishments in my eyes, as he more than held his own in the CAN-RUS summer series, the Subway Super Series, and in the game yesterday. He will still be eligible for next year's team, so I wish him luck the rest of the season and hope he gets back to health soon.

[franko]

[seventeen]

Finally had a chance to watch the Canada/Sweden game and I can say a few of my gut feelings are being borne out. The boys had much better legs yesterday.

I swear that the only people in the stands were either scouts or family members of the players. I haven't seen that many empty seats since the last Miami Marlins game.

Observations. Schiefele should be Canada's 13th forward, if he should be on the team at all. He has a low hockey IQ and made only one good play the whole game that I saw and that was a tough pass from the right boards to a teammate in the middle. Wow, one good play. That's as many as Drouin makes in a shift.

Speaking of JD, he should be on one of the top two lines. I suspect both he and McKinnon are not getting the ice time they should, simply because of seniority. Or perhaps because of defensive responsibilities. It's hard to see how well one plays defensively when you're watching on tv. I really like both McKinnon's and Drouin's offensive game. McKinnon went wide at the blue line on one play, drew 3 guys toward him and made a back hand pass to a teammate who then had a good clear shot on goal. Drouin was dangerous all game. You can see the difference that offensive creativity makes. RNH has done it a few time and the two youngsters have beaten people individually. That's how you break down defenses.

You can tell that the Bruin development guys have been working their magic on Doug Hamilton. Obviously he has Lucic on speed dial. Late slashes and stupid hits leading to 4 penalties. He wasn't like that last year and he looked better last year. That's been one of the disappointments so far, in that the guys you expect to lead the team aren't playing up to their capabilities. Or at least to the level I expect them to play. That list includes Hamilton, Huburdeau (though this was his first game back and he hadn't played that much in the last couple of week), Schiefele most definitely and Strome. They haven't been really bad (Schiefele excepted), but they haven't been really good either. Again, they were the guys who had the least ice time in the selection camp, so maybe their timing isn't there yet.

Harrington has been excellent and Reinhart, Murphy have been solid. Murphy has been much more dangerous offensively than Hamilton. Morgan Reilly seems to be catching up and Ouellette has been all right.

I've liked Lipon, Denault and also Jenner before that silly late hit. I expect him to be suspended for what amounts to the rest of the tournament. The IIHF can often be like the IOC. Incredibly black and white, tough and insensitive to any rational arguments, unless money is involved. If a spear is worth one game, a late hit that breaks ribs is worth 5 to 10. I have to wonder about a player who suffers broken ribs from what I would class as a normal hit, even if it was late. Is he made of glass? I feel for him because of the extent of the injury, but that type of hit happens often enough without any serious damage.

Mr Binnington. Without a doubt he has to be the starting goalie on Wednesday. No matter how much the outside voices of team Canada say that they were happy with Subban's goaltending, the Inside voices have to be saying, "Thank heavens Binnington is looking so good because otherwise we'd be in big trouble". That's my outside voice speaking.

Looking forward to the tournament. We should be getting better, game by game.

[NWTHabsFan]

Seventeen, you wonder about Schiefele and I keep waiting for the dominant Huberdeau to show up. I want to see this guy dominate games for long stretches, and have watched quite a few games waiting and waiting.

In net, it sort of has to be Binnington's job to lose. I really like Paterson, but they have not played him lately and Subban has been very sub-par for a while now. It is a short tourney, so you have to go with the hot hand.

This is going go be a heck of a tournament for 17 year olds. Canada's Halifax dynamic duo of MacKinnon and Drouin already look good and should only get better. Seth Jones only played one pre-tourney game and his team was not good, but you can see his talent. Lindholm should centre Collberg on the second line and I have already been quite impressed by De La Rose. Barkov looks like the real deal and Ristolainen is a complete defenseman and likely one of the top ones taken next year. Nichushkin has size and speed to go along with the Russian factor.

[seventeen]

Yes, Huburdeau is one of those guys who needs to turn it up, but I was a little more forgiving of him because of the 2 game suspension. I hope he has the rust out of his game. we need Huburdeau and RNH to lead the team. I'd be really tempted to put McKinnon on wing with those two. I think you need a guy with elite hockey IQ to play with those two. Drouin's a left winger or I'd add him. I don't think Schiefele reads the play well enough or executes well enough for that line.

But I'm biased.

[habsfanintrailbc]

I doubt a 19 year old would have rust after missing two games, maybe Huburdeau isn't as great as some think he is. I'm still sad that Hudon is out, oh well go Galchenyuk and Collberg I guess.

[franko]

Germany scored 3? What's with that???

[seventeen]

I knew I shouldn't have come on until I finished watching the game. Three against, huh? If we don't put Binnington in goal, our chances of winning drop by 75%. I haven't seen the 3rd goal against, but I have a different opinion of the goaltending than the announcers do, or at least what their outside voices are saying. Early on, Subban stopped a shot from just inside the blue line and put the rebound right out in front, where a teammate cleared it. On the first goal, he had no idea the German player was where he was. I'm not saying he would have stopped the shot, because it was bang bang and I don't fault him for letting it in. I do fault him for not being aware of that player and perhaps anticipating the cross ice pass. Really good goalies can make that save because they're waiting for the play. Just watched the 3rd goal and won't fault Subban on that one. In the second, another shot from near the point and Subban wasn't able to control the rebound and it went out about 6 feet in front of him, where a Canadian cleared it. What I see from him (or don't see) is that he lacks rebound control and he's simply not big enough to force players to be really fine with their shots.

I will take back (or at least temper) my criticism of Schiefele. He looks like a different player today, so perhaps that first goal took the monkey off his back. He hustled like crazy on a back check and his positioning is much better today. He's there when a puck comes loose and he's getting to open ice for a pass, something that wasn't happening before. I'm still not sure the chemistry is quite there on that first line but perhaps that's because RNH and Huburdeau work so darn well together themselves.

My pet peeve (outside of Subban)? The TSN announcers constantly calling Hamilton "Dougie Hamilton". Not "Doug Hamilton", not simply "Hamilton" as there only is one on the team this year, nope, it's Dougie Hamilton, as if he's a 5 year old. I've been throwing wiffle bricks at my tv all game long. You aren't going to be able to get that out of your head now, are you? It's going to annoy you as much as it does me. .

I should send a note to TSN to have them clean up their act.

Three goals against vs Germany. Sheesh. (Mind you, once the team is up as much as it is, it's easy to lose your discipline).

Back to the 3rd period. Cheers all.

Subban was better in the 3rd. Am still not convinced Binnington doesn't deserve to be there

Stubborn me.

[NWTHabsFan]

Great game by RNH. That line is for real. Ryan's patience with the puck is a treat to watch.

I am not thrilled with the goaltending choice, but we got the win.

Need to tighten the defensive game a bit as the last two goals did not need to happen. McNeill set up the German perfectly on goal number three. Hudon would not have done that!!

Sebastian Collberg netted his first goal in a 4-1 win over the Czechs today. Galchenyuk makes his official debut tomorrow. The US seem to have four good offensive forwards...the three guys on the top line and Gally. Wonder if Housley will give him some more talented line mates at some point. In TSN's preview show, Bobby Mac had Gally at #2 of top non Canadian players to watch.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

Dec 25, 2012 22:31:40 GMT -5 @habsfanintrailbc said:

I doubt a 19 year old would have rust after missing two games, maybe Huburdeau isn't as great as some think he is. I'm still sad that Hudon is out, oh well go Galchenyuk and Collberg I guess.

Welcome to the boards, HFITBC. Please take time to review our code of conduct when you can. Looking forward to reading your opinions, if there's to be a season that is.

Cheers.

[NWTHabsFan]

Collberg's goal was a one timer on the PP.

video.tsn.ca/?dl=main/latest/1/0/833454/clip/0

[NWTHabsFan]

Gally with his first assist 19 seconds into the game against Germany.

Edit1: Gally makes it 3-0 with a rocket top shelf.

Edit2: Another assist. 3 points now. Not spoiling it for folks as this game is not being replayed later.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

Nice goal by Gally for sure. A rocket!

Cheers.

[NWTHabsFan]

Alex gets the player of the game for the US. He did not play much in the third, as they have a big game against the Russians tomorrow.

Two good games on TSN tomorrow: Canada vs Slovakia and USA vs Russia.