CANADA KNOWS THE ANSWER IS HARD WORK
Russia taught team lesson in showing up ready to do battle
Alexis Lafreniere isn’t officially done yet at the world junior hockey championship.
That was the one sliver of light to come from Canada’s humbling 6-0 wake-up call from the hungry Russians on Saturday.
The team’s best player and the NHL’S top prospect won’t play in Monday’s game against Germany. But he was at the practice rink to watch his mates work out a day after being helped off the ice in considerable pain from falling awkwardly into Russian goalie Amir Miftakhov.
“He’s walking now, so it’s positive,” said assistant coach Andre Tourigny. Doc says it’s all positive news we’ve got so far ... the sun came up and Laffy’s not out.”
According to Hockey Canada, the 18-year-old Quebec league leading scorer is day-to-day with a “lower-body injury.”
Tourigny said the setback has not changed Lafreniere’s demeanour or his considerable rapport with his teammates.
“Alexis is a smiley kid,” the Ottawa 67’s coach said. “He always has fun. He’s making jokes and pretty loose right now. It’s a good sign.”
The Canadians were due for a major line shuffling, anyway, after being shut out. Connor Mcmichael moved up to a line with Barrett Hayton and Nolan Foote while Quinton Byfield shifted to centre on a trio with Joe Veleno and Dawson Mercer.
“He (Lafreniere) loves the game,” Hayton said. “It’s hard for him not to be out here. We all love his company. He’s in good spirits. He’s around the guys and it’s great to have him.”
Canada isn’t the only team dealing with injuries to big-name talent.
The Finns lost their best centre, Rasmus Kupari, for the tournament and the Czechs bid farewell to American league forward Jakub Lauko. Both teams still managed to win without them.
If anything, the chastened Canadian squad realizes that it is going to have to work for everything it gets here and not try to sail on skill alone. The full practice Sunday featured a lot of battle drills and instruction about keeping opposition forwards out of the slot area.
They taught the Canadians a lesson in showing up ready to battle.
“That’s something we can control,” Tourigny said. “It was intensity, urgency and desire. We knew Russia would be ready. Until you’re in it, you don’t really know the level. You need a certain urgency to win those big games against those countries.
“Welcome to the world junior. Now, we know where we stand.”
The same can’t be said for their crease.
Dale Hunter has not made up his mind about who will start in goal against Germany.
Nico Daws has allowed eight goals in little more than four periods. Joel Hofer came in cold and surrendered two more.
Olivier Rodrigue hasn’t played a full game since he was with Moncton and, despite his international experience, it will be a terrific gamble to bring him in cold.
“If they need me, I’ll be ready,” the Oilers second-rounder said. “We’re hockey players. We always have to be ready.”
The coaching staff has not ruled out any possibility. They need someone to take charge of the net — and soon.
“We talked about six million scenarios,” Tourigny said. “We said from the beginning — we have a lot of confidence in our three goalies. We love all of them. So we’ll see. We don’t think our goalies played bad. We gave up way too many scoring chances our first two games.”
Daws, of course, wants a third straight start, especially against Germany.
The Guelph Storm netminder is from Burlington, Ont., but was born in Munich.