Showing posts with label World Juniors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World Juniors. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

The World Juniors Cancelled?



News is starting to filter out that the possibility of the World Junior Championships will be cancelled. It’s a shame, I know. 
The Americans already had to forfeit their game vs Switzerland and now today, Czechia became the second team to forfeit vs Finland. 

The IIHF is going to meet later today to discuss the options for the remainder of the tournament.  
They have already mandated that the on ice officials will have to wear a mask for the games. How does blowing a whistle work with a mask on? Won’t there be a delay from the time they pull it down to blow the whistle and then doesn’t that defeat the purpose of the mask? How can they skate as quick as they do with a hindrance like a mask covering their mouths and breathing in already harmful carbon dioxide? Seems a bit ludicrous to me. 

On the flip side of things, Edmonton Oilers coach Dave Tippett discussed how he wasn’t sick or had any symptoms while being placed in the NHL Covid protocol. He also said he spoke to all the players that were affected, and none of them were sick either. So the question is, what exactly are we doing? Why are the players being sent to protocol if they are asymptomatic? Is the same happening with the World Junior teams? 

If Quebec is now allowing Doctors and Nurses to continue working while testing positive for Covid, why are we shutting down when everything appears to be fine? Doesn’t make sense, does it? Not at all. 

So with all this, we all hope the tournament isn’t cancelled as the Canadian team has had some great stories so far. 

Owen Power is going to be a future star in the NHL. He’s already a stud. Connor Bedard had a 4 point game as a 16 year old and we haven’t seen that since some kid wore 99 and broke records like crazy in the NHL. If this tournament does indeed continue, there will be more great stories that still need to be written. 



Thursday, January 5, 2012

Our Prospect Pool at the Juniors

The Oilers have quite a few prospects in the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championship. None of them played for our beloved Team Canada but they played some pretty important roles on their respective teams. These players include Oscar Klefbom, David Musil, Kristian Pelss, Martin Gernat and Martin Marincin. Over the course of the tournament I decided to take short notes on what I noticed from each player.

Klefbom - He is one great positional player, he may not be the most physically strong man out there but he knows how to separate the man from the puck, simply with his positioning. Klefbom also has a great read on the play, he is constantly alert and knows where to be. A slight problem of his however is to make good, but fairly chancy plays, that can be costly to his team.

Musil - He is also a brilliant player at reading plays, very alert. Musil is also great with the stick, he is very capable with his poke checks. One thing I had noticed is his unmistakable ability when in front of the net, his physical dominance and shot blocking.

Kristian Pelss - To be honest I have not seen much of his play, but from what I have heard he was one of the best players on Latvia's team.

Martin Gernat - Great skater with great stick work. Aggressive offensively in the attacking zone but can sometimes be a little too offensive. With his size comes a hard shot, but for his size he is also very mobile on his feet.

Martin Marincin - He can very much be like his fellow team mate, Martin Gernat. Another large sized defenceman with a booming shot and great mobility. He can however make some risky plays with his stretch passes.

On another note: I'm proud of Canada, of course we all wanted gold, but the boys played with heart and soul, obviously they didn't want to end up in the bronze game either.

GO Canada GO!

I don't know about you guys, but tonight I'm rooting for the Swedes, I just can't bear to see the Russians win again.

Let's Go Oilers!!!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Jordan Eberle and Devan Dubnyk Join Team Canada at World Hockey Championships

Good news for a couple of the Edmonton Oilers today. Both Jordan Eberle and Devan Dubnyk have been selected to represent Team Canada at the World Hockey Championships.

It's good to know that there will some familiar Oilers players that we can root for. At least the season isn't completely shot. We still get to follow some guys. WooOOooOooooOOo!!!!

GOILERS!!!

- WRITTEN BY SMOKIN' RAY -

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Curtis Hamilton and Olivier Roy Make Team Canada (WJHC)

Congratulations to forward Curtis Hamilton and goaltender Olivier Roy as they were both selected to represent Team Canada at the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championship.

We should be proud of these two players as some very, very good players were cut this morning including Red Deer Rebels foward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

Here is the Team Canada Roster

VIDEO of Final Roster

Feels good to know that the Edmonton Oilers are represented at the WHJC. Both players are Oilers draft picks and both have very bright futures.

Stay tuned to OilersJambalaya.com for coverage of the World Junior Hockey Championships starting on Boxing Day.

-Written by Smokin' Ray-

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

LIVE *TweetCast* Canada vs USA (WJHC) & Oilers vs Coyotes (NHL) (1/5/10)

Welcome everyone to another fine TweetCast by Oilers Jambalaya.

Tonight you will see the tweets of Paq Twinn, Smokin' Ray, Dan Tencer, The Official Edmonton Oilers tweets, and the Official Phoenix Coyotes tweets.  Also included are the tweets from @MyTeamCanada for the junior game.  You will see a TweetCast for both games - the Canada vs USA Junior game and the PPV game of the Edmonton Oilers and the Phoenix Coyotes.

Feel free to comment by typing in the box below. It`s easy and no signup required.

We hope you enjoy the TweetCast and GOILERS & GO CANADA!


Monday, January 4, 2010

The Glass Half Full - Edmonton Oilers Prospects and the Junior Tournament



Well now that the World Junior tournament is almost over - minus the medal finals and the relegation games - it's time to look at what happened for the sake of the Edmonton Oilers and their prospects.  Not much is really going to change from now till it's over so why not get cracking?

In my opinion, the Oiler kids did great.  Much better than I had anticipated.  I'm thinking glass half full when I say the future looks bright for this hockey club.  Not next year, but I'd say in the next 2-4 years, this team is going to change dramatically and for the better. *fingers crossed*

We seen the dominance/emergence of (F) Jordan Eberle and (F) Magnus Pääjärvi-Svensson and that really excited me as an Oiler fan, never mind the other 3 Oiler kids playing in this tournament. 

Before any games are played on Monday, Eberle had registered a point in 16 straight games for Team Canada.  He is also tied for tops on Team Canada with St. Louis Blues prospect (D) Alex Pietrangelo and second in the tournament in points with 11 in total.  In fact, only Derek Stepan has more points in the tournament than Eberle and it's only by one mealy point.  Jordan Eberle has 6 goals and 5 assists for 11 points.  Not bad for a kid who only played 5 games and was slated for the 2nd line on Team Canada. 

"He's (Eberle) not afraid of the big situation," Coach Desjardins said. "He wants the puck. Even the shootout moves and things like that, he makes real strong moves."  Watch out Oiler fans, this kid is going to be a damn good player someday for the Oilers.

Magnus Pääjärvi-Svensson has also had a great tournament.  He's been a force and a leader on the Swedish team and he's a very talented hockey player.  I still find it surprising that the Oilers were able to select him with the 10th pick in 2009.  This kid is a gamer and I feel fortunate as an Oiler fan that we have him in our system.  He had 3 goals and 6 assists for 9 points in 5 games and was a +6.  He was a leader for the Sweden team and I'd expect some of the same here in Edmonton when he does finally reach the NHL.  As an 18 year old, he's very impressive and I'm sure, like Eberle and his #14, the Oilers have #21 reserved for Pääjärvi-Svensson.

Also on Team Sweden, is (F) Anton Lander.  He was the Oilers 40th pick in 2009 draft.  He was interesting to keep an eye on because I didn't know much about him before the tournament started.  The first thing I noticed as that he must have some sort of leadership skills as he wore the "A" on his jersey.  That's a good sign.  He is also pretty good at faceoffs as he went 35W 25L for 58.33% and 13th overall in the tournament.  Not exactly a high percentage, but at least it's a starting point and has room to grow.  If he improves on this, then that might be an intangible that he brings to the Oilers and solidifies a spot for himself on the team.  Lord knows the Oilers need better faceoff people. 

After 5 games Lander has scored 4 goals and had 2 assists for 6 points.  Not bad.  He is also sitting at +3 before the Bronze (I wish it was for Gold) medal game.  Again, not bad. 

So far it's looking good for the Oilers don't you think?

Now onto Team Finland.  The Oilers have two players there and they also looked pretty good throughout this tournament.  (F) Tony Rajala and (F) Teemu Hartikainen play on a weaker team than the other Oiler prospects, do but both still had a good tournament. 

Rajala scored 1 goal and had 2 assists for 3 points after 5 games.  He is currently sitting at -1 after those 5 games.  Only scoring once is a little shocking considering it came on the PP and he fired 22 shots in those 5 games.  Is he another Patrick O'Sullivan?  See... that doesn't excite me either.  The bright side here?  He didn't have a single penalty all tournament. Glass half full.

Teemu Hartikainen was a little better than Rajala by scoring 3 goals (same as MPS) and 1 assist for 4 points after 5 games.  He also fired the puck a lot like Rajala did by blasting a team high 27 shots. In comparison, Eberle took 20 shots so far in the tournament and has 6 goals while MPS took 24 shots and had 3 goals.  If anything impressed me it was that Hartikainen did so well in goal scoring department.  I didn't expect him to be in top 20 and he is at 16th place right now.  He just may mature into a better goal scorer then he is now. I'd say Hartikainen is already on his way.

Overall Goals as of the morning of 1/4/10
1st Jordon Eberle (6 goals)
3rd Taylor Hall (5 goals)
9th Anton Lander (4 goals)
16th Teemu Hartikainen (3 goals)
16th Magnus Pääjärvi-Svensson (3 goals)
HM Tony Rajala (1 goal)

With the emergence of Eberle and Pääjärvi-Svensson and Lander, I think the Oilers are going to be OK down the road.  I suppose if the two kids from Finland pan out, we can consider it a bonus.  If we show patience, this team will be good once again.  Until then though... it's painful to watch.

Ps. Taylor Hall looked great and needs to be an Oiler.  Don't you think?

-Smokin' Ray-

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