Canada crushes Czech Republic in WJHC pre-tournament opener
Four-point nights by Robert Thomas and Taylor Raddysh led Team Canada to an explosive 9-0 win over Czech Republic in Wednesday's exhibition matchup ahead of the 2018 World Junior Hockey Championship.
Played before a passionate crowd at Budweiser Gardens in London, Ontario, Team Canada abused Czech Republic netminder Jakub Skarek for nine goals.
Canada opened the scoring midway through the first period when Anaheim Ducks prospect Maxime Comtois tapped a loose puck past Skarek.
Team Canada continued to pour on the offense, including a five-goal outburst in the final frame.
Canadian goaltender Carter Hart turned aside 23 shots for the shutout.
Canada's next contest in pre-competition action comes Friday against Switzerland at FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton. Team Canada begins round robin play vs. Finland on Dec. 26.
See the full boxscore here:
| Period | Score | Goal | Assists | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1-0 | Maxime Comtois | Alex Formenton | Kale Clague |
| 1 | 2-0 | Robert Thomas | Taylor Raddysh | |
| 2 | 3-0 | Jake Bean | Cale Makar | Robert Thomas |
| 2 | 4-0 | Boris Katchouk | Robert Thomas | Taylor Raddysh |
| 3 | 5-0 | Taylor Raddysh | Robert Thomas | Kale Clague |
| 3 | 6-0 | Taylor Raddysh | Jordan Kyrou | Sam Steel |
| 3 | 7-0 | Jonah Gadjovich | Michael McLeod | Drake Batherson |
| 3 | 8-0 | Drake Batherson | Jonah Gadjovich | Cale Makar |
| 3 | 9-0 | Cal Foote | Brett Howden | Maxime Comtois |
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USA pours in 14 goals in pre-tournament rout of Belarus
Team USA obliterated Belarus in its first world junior tuneup game, cruising to a 14-0 final.
The defending gold medalists netted six tallies in the first, four in the second, and four in the third, relentlessly dominating the entire contest. The goal-scorers are as follows:
- Reilly Walsh
- Casey Mittelstadt (2)
- Phil Kemp
- Kieffer Bellows (2)
- Riley Tufte (2)
- Mikey Anderson
- Quinn Hughes
- Brady Tkachuk
- Trent Frederic
- Josh Norris
- Max Jones
While the game was smooth-sailing, forward Will Lockwood left the contest in the first period with an injury and didn't return.
USA plays one more pre-tournament game - Friday versus Sweden - and has to finalize its roster before the preliminary round gets underway Dec. 26.
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Tavares says future with Isles unaffected by Belmont arena deal
On a day where the New York Islanders celebrated a landmark achievement in the long-term security of the franchise, its potential ripple effect on the not-so-distant future of the club's most important player was predictably thrust into the forefront.
As the Isles' ownership group officially announced the plan for a new arena at Belmont Park, returning the club to its roots and soon banishing the nightmare that is the Barclays Center, captain John Tavares was asked if the confirmation of the shiny new facility will be enough to make him stay.
"For my situation it's really exciting news," Tavares said, according to Arthur Staple of Newsday. "I'm not going to say it's going to change or ultimately make my decision, but everything that's involved in my daily life plays into it and going to the rink, playing games is a big part of that."
Tavares is eligible to sign a contract extension at any point, and will officially become an unrestricted free agent if a deal isn't reached by July 1.
The 27-year-old is doing his part to make sure he gets his worth, too, as he currently ranks third in the NHL with 42 points in 34 games this season.
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Ovechkin, Stamkos, McDavid, Subban lead All-Star votes
Alex Ovechkin is the king of the Metropolitan Division.
The Washington Capitals captain leads all players in his team's division in fan voting for the 2018 All-Star Game.
Fellow superstars Steven Stamkos (Atlantic), Connor McDavid (Pacific), and P.K. Subban (Central) also lead their respective groupings.
Here are the top five players by popular vote from each division:
Metropolitan Division
| Rank | Player | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ovechkin | Capitals |
| 2 | Sidney Crosby | Penguins |
| 3 | John Tavares | Islanders |
| 4 | Phil Kessel | Penguins |
| 5 | Sergei Bobrovsky | Blue Jackets |
Atlantic Division
| Rank | Player | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stamkos | Lightning |
| 2 | Nikita Kucherov | Lightning |
| 3 | Auston Matthews | Maple Leafs |
| 4 | Erik Karlsson | Senators |
| 5 | Carey Price | Canadiens |
Pacific Division
| Rank | Player | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | McDavid | Oilers |
| 2 | Johnny Gaudreau | Flames |
| 3 | James Neal | Golden Knights |
| 4 | Marc-Andre Fleury | Golden Knights |
| 5 | Anze Kopitar | Kings |
Central Division
| Rank | Player | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Subban | Predators |
| 2 | Vladimir Tarasenko | Blues |
| 3 | Patrick Kane | Blackhawks |
| 4 | Nathan MacKinnon | Avalanche |
| 5 | Tyler Seguin | Stars |
The 2018 All-Star Game will be held Jan. 28 in Tampa Bay.
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Knights’ Schmidt: Visiting Vegas for 1st time like starring in ‘The Hangover’
While the Vegas Golden Knights continue to prove their haters wrong with an ascent up the NHL standings, the myth surrounding the struggles of teams coming to the Strip continues to grow.
That's because the Knights hold the best home record in the league at 14-2-1, and whispers about a "Vegas Flu" get louder with each passing home win for Gerrard Gallant's men.
If you ask Knights defenseman Nate Schmidt, there might be something to the "Vegas Flu" after all, as he compares visiting the city to starring in the famous Vegas-themed hit film "The Hangover," according to ESPN's Greg Wyshynski.
"There's just something about it. There's no windows. No doors. No clocks. Nothing. There's just pumped-in oxygen," Schmidt said.
"When we go into a city, we have a routine. Get in. Put your stuff down. Change. Go to dinner. Hang out with the guys. Come back. Watch some TV. But here, there are a few more things to do. Maybe you do some little thing that just throws your clock off. It doesn't take much. And we'll take anything that throws you off of your game."
Following another big home victory over the first-place Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday, the high-flying Knights find themselves sitting pretty in the ever-tough Pacific Division, tied for first with the Los Angeles Kings at 46 points.
The "Vegas Flu" is most likely fiction, but one thing is for sure: The Knights are very much for real.
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Parenteau, Raymond headline Canada’s Spengler Cup roster
The Spengler Cup usually takes a back seat to just about all other ongoing hockey events in Canada, but with this year's edition being the final opportunity for player evaluations before the 2018 Winter Olympics, the following 20-man roster holds more significance this time around:
Forwards
| Player | Team |
|---|---|
| David McIntrye | EV Zug (NLA) |
| Mason Raymond | SC Bern (NLA) |
| Curtis Hamilton | SaiPa (Liiga) |
| Jay McClement | EHC Olten (NLB) |
| P.A. Parenteau | Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg (KHL) |
| Nick Spaling | Genève-Servette HC (NLA) |
| Jake Evans | University of Notre Dame (Big 10) |
| Andrew Abbett | SC Bern (NLA) |
| Chris Kelly | Belleville (AHL) |
| Christian Thomas | Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL) |
| Matt D'Agostini | HC Ambri-Piotta (NLA) |
| Dylan Sikura | Northeastern University (HE) |
Defense
| Player | Team |
|---|---|
| Brandon Hickey | Boston University (HE) |
| Jeff Schultz | San Diego (AHL) |
| Cody Goloubef | Stockton (AHL) |
| Maxim Noreau | SC Bern (NLA) |
| Jeremy Davies | Northeastern University (HE) |
| Victor Bartley | Orebro HK (SHL) |
Goalies
| Player | Team |
|---|---|
| Kevin Poulin | Barys Astana (KHL) |
| Barry Brust | HC Fribourg-Gotteron (NLA) |
While impressing Olympic general manager Sean Burke may be most players' ultimate goal in this tournament, Canada is also searching for its third consecutive Spengler Cup title.
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American-made: GM Jim Johannson on the USA Hockey machine
After decades of boasting a good-but-not-great junior hockey program, USA Hockey is on top of the world - and the proof is everywhere.
There are the three World Junior Hockey Championship titles since 2010, including a dominant 2016-17 performance in which the Americans went unbeaten and outscored foes by nearly a two-to-one margin. There's defending Calder Trophy winner Auston Matthews, an Arizona native and Toronto Maple Leafs star who's considered one of the best prospects of the past 20 years.
And if that's not enough to convince you, take a look at this year's NHL rookie scoring race. Entering Thursday, three of the top four first-year scoring leaders - Brock Boeser, Clayton Keller, and Alex DeBrincat - are American-born.
In other words, it's safe to say the days of USA Hockey being a mediocre program are over.
Team USA heads into 2017's world junior tournament as the favorite to repeat - something general manager Jim Johannson attributes to a talent pool jam-packed with pro potential.
"Without a doubt, it's the depth of the player pool we have," Johannson told theScore. "Kind of with that, it's hard to describe, but I think obviously our mindset going to everything is that we have a team that can compete for the championship no matter what the level of play is or what the tournament is."
That winning mindset is a lot easier to instill in a team filled with players destined for the NHL.
Kieffer Bellows (New York Islanders), Casey Mittelstadt (Buffalo Sabres), and Kailer Yamamoto (Edmonton Oilers) offer the most intrigue up front, as all three are first-round picks.
On the back end, returning defensemen Ryan Lindgren (Boston Bruins) and Adam Fox (Calgary Flames) offer head coach Bob Motzko experience and stability in a defensive corps otherwise lacking in big-name talent. However, blue-liner Quinn Hughes is a player to watch, as the offensively gifted defenseman is garnering some top-10 attention ahead of the 2018 draft.
Yet, Team USA's biggest strength is arguably between the pipes, with returning netminders Jake Oettinger (Dallas Stars) and Joseph Woll (Toronto Maple Leafs). Oettinger, a hulking 6-foot-4 2017 first-rounder, stands to be the No. 1, with Woll, an underrated third-round pick, serving as backup.
Aside from its world juniors roster, the development program's progress can be seen, as mentioned above, in the burgeoning superstars putting the NHL on notice - a fact that has Johannson fired up.
"I think it's exciting on a lot of fronts, guys have been coming from a lot of varied backgrounds and paths, if you will, to the NHL," he said.
"As players like that have success, I think two things. I think it helps pave the way in the future for guys, and, from the players' perspective, when they see guys having success, they want to emulate it. And it seems just a little bit more real to them that they can get to that level as well."
Johannson said much of that success can be attributed to hockey's expansion into new, untapped markets such as Arizona and Texas, which produced Matthews and Seth Jones, respectively.
"I think we have done a better job of keeping kids in the game, coupled with the exposure of the game in California, Arizona, Texas, Florida. All of sudden, kids are exposed to the game. There's facilities, and the next thing you know is pretty good athletes walk in and start playing hockey. If you roll that out, like Jones and Matthews, to me, are kids that grew up in Texas and Arizona and all of a sudden they are hockey players.
"Twenty years ago I think they would have been playing football or basketball, they wouldn't have been playing hockey. So now we have both the programs and the facilities for them to play the game."
Team USA might finally have all the pieces needed to build its foundation as a hockey powerhouse, but that's only half of it, as they now have to be carefully assembled - a task Johannson is trusting Motzko with.
"He's a guy that guys want to play for," Johannson said of his head coach. "And that's because he believes in them, he lets them know he believes in them, he takes feedback from them, he lets them play. But he holds them accountable and he has that respect factor from all of them. And so, my other part with him is he does an unbelievable job of using the coaches that are with him, and he'll be the first guy to tell you that."
Both Motzko and Johannson were at the helm of the 2017 gold medal-winning team in Toronto and Montreal, but despite this year's talent and expectations, Johannson isn't ready to anoint his team as the favorite heading into Buffalo.
"Well, I still wouldn't characterize it as that," he said. "There's so much respect for the countries in the tournament, and I think the world juniors is the best international hockey tournament every year.
"Put it this way: There's major disappointment any time we don't walk away winning it, but I guess I'm not a guy who has a gold-or-bust mentality, because there is so much that can happen, and so much respect for what the other countries are doing to put great teams on the ice."
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Stamkos takes issue with late penalty call vs. Golden Knights
A usually soft-spoken Steven Stamkos wasn't shy about sharing his opinion following the Lightning's 4-3 loss to the Golden Knights on Tuesday night.
The game ended on a buzzer-beating, power-play goal from Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore with 2.9 seconds left.
Stamkos, however, wasn't too pleased with a holding the stick penalty to teammate Braydon Coburn with just 24 seconds left in regulation, which led to Theodore's game-winner.
"Just a crappy way to lose a hockey game," Stamkos said, via Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. "We fought back to tie the game. I don’t think anyone would have complained if he didn’t call that penalty on them. That’s an iffy call. And they think they need to make up for a mistake. It’s just the wrong call at the wrong time."
The penalty call can be seen at 3:20 in the video below.
Special teams proved to be the difference in this contest, as the Golden Knights scored all four of their goals on the power play.
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