Lots on line for Newfoundlanders in tournaments this week
Goalie Zach Rose stars in World Junior A Challenge; Brad Peddle coaches U Sports all-stars to wins over Canadian junior prospects; Teddy Purcell back with Canada at another pre-olympic tourney
He’s from Newfoundland and Labrador, and he’s representing a team from western Canada, but there’s been nothing puzzling about Zach Rose’s play in goal at the 2017 World Junior A Hockey Challenge this week in Truro, N.S.
Except maybe for opposition shooters.
The 18-year-old from Paradise is one of the reasons his Canada West team made it to the tournament semifinal round, where they faced the Czech Thursday night.
The World Junior A Hockey Challenge features the top junior A players in Canada representing Canada East and Canada West. Joining them in the tournament are the Czechs, Russia, Switzerland and the United States.
Thursday’s other semifinal featured Russia and the United States. The winners meet for the gold medal 3:30 p.m. (NL time) Saturday.
Rose plays in the British Columbia Hockey League, where he is a rookie with the Victoria Grizzlies. The CBR Minor Hockey Association product has a 10-10 record with the Grizzlies — where he’s a teammate of fellow rookie Alex Newhook of St. John’s — with a 3.17 goalsagainst average and .916 save percentage.
Entering Thursday, the 6-0, 180-pound Rose owned a 2.07 GAA and .912 save percentage over three games at the Challenge.
He stopped 18 of 21 shots Wednesday night in Canada West’s 4-3 quarter-final win over Canada East,
Rose, who played in the Don Johnson Hockey League, left Paradise after Grade 10 at Holy Spirit high school to attend Lake Forest Academy outside Chicago.
He spent three years at the prep school before joining the Grizzlies this season. His play in the BCHL has caught the attention of several NCAA Division I scouts.
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Brad Peddle kept telling players on his U Sports all-star hockey team that their twogame exhibition series against Canadian world junior hopefuls represented a chance for them to prove themselves before all the NHL scouts who are attending the national junior team selection camp in St. Catharines, Ont.
But it could very well be that Peddle also caught the attention of those watching.
The 43-year-old St. John’s was head coach for the U Sports squad, which down the world junior prospects twice, 3-0 on Wednesday night and 4-3 Thursday afternoon.
”This is about representing themselves,” said Peddle, who is normally the head coach of the St. Francis Xavier X-men of the AUS.
“But it’s also about trying to open up a door for them because they’re good players. These guys are all guys who’ve played four or five years of major junior hockey.
“We want players to be able to come to university, work on their games, get better while they’re here, get their degrees, then go play pro hockey when they’re done. That’s what these guys aspire to be.”
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Team Canada, with forward Teddy Purcell of St. John’s on its roster, faces the Czech Republic today at the Channel One Cup hockey tourney in Moscow.
The Canadians opened with a 4-2 win over South Korea Wednesday. The 32-year-old Purcell, who plays for Avangard Omsk of the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League, didn’t dress for the game against the Koreans.
It’s the second time he’s been picked up by Team Canada this fall; Purcell played in the Karjala Cup, held in Switzerland and Finland last month.
The Channel Cup, formerly known as the Izvestia Trophy competition, is a pre-olympic tourney in advance of the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, Korea.
The final Canadian Olympic team won’t be selected until after the Christmas-time Spengler Cup tournament in Davos, Switzerland. By that time, it should be also confirmed whether the KHL will release its players — Purcell included — for the Olympics.
With the National Hockey League not permitting its players to play in the Olympics, Canada’s team is expected to be made up largely of players skating in European professional leagues.
It had been thought the KHL’S decision would be made by now, although the expectation has mostly been that the league won’t present an obstacle, especially since any obstruction would face fierce opposition from KHL players and the Russian Hockey Federation.
The International Olympic Committee has punished Russia across all sports for doping at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. Russians will not be able to medal in Pyeongchang or even compete under their flag, but most Russian athletes have expressed a desire to participate in the 2018 Winter Games. That includes many of the country’s top hockey players who are skating in the KHL.
Canada, whose lineup also includes former St. John’s Icecaps centre Eric O’dell, another KHL player, finishes its round-robin at the Channel One Cup Saturday against the host Russians.