Canada will rely on speed, energy
Star players are going to have to adapt to supporting roles
Mitch Marner, Dylan Strome and Travis Dermott were among those gathering Thursday at the MasterCard Centre, stars in junior hockey about to become stars of international hockey. Marner and Dermott are Maple Leafs prospects in the OHL, Strome belongs to the Arizona Coyotes, the third overall pick in 2015, the highest drafted NHL pick on any roster among the 10 teams to compete at the world junior championships in Helsinki starting Dec. 26.
“It’s been pretty fun,” Marner said. “A lot of people congratulating you and you haven’t made the team yet. Getting here, you kind of know what you have to do to make this team. It’s a learning experience.”
There are plenty of names among Canada’s assembled three goalies, 11 defencemen and 17 forwards who have a chance to become household names by the time the tournament crowns a champion on Jan. 5.
Perhaps defenceman Jakob Chychrun of the Sarnia Sting, son of a former NHLer and the Canadian most likely to give American Auston Matthews a run for his money as the first overall pick in June. Or goalie Mackenzie Blackwood of the Barrie Colts, the expected No. 1 netminder who begins the tournament under suspension.
“We’re going to be fast,” said coach Dave Lowry, an assistant on last year’s gold-medal team. “We’re going to that be a team that hunts the puck. When we don’t have it, we’re going to work to get it.”
But the key to Canada defending gold isn’t so much who the names are but how they interact with each other.
“There’s going to be a lot of very good players who are going to play roles that maybe they’re not accustomed to,” said Lowry. “If we want to win, we’ll take the best players. But the best players have to be able to adapt, to do whatever it takes to win.”
FORWARDS
Marner, Strome and Lawson Crouse of the Kingston Frontenacs — three high-end first-round picks from the summer draft — worked on a line together in the team’s first practice. The Leafs want Marner to be a centre — a position he plays regularly with the London Knights — but he’s working as a right winger with Strome for now.
“Centre you have to be lower in the play, that’s about it,” Marner said of the position change. “It really feels no different for me. It’s a preference for the coach, whatever he wants.”
Crouse and Brayden Point of the Moose Jaw Warriors are the only two returning forwards from last year’s team.
Point is possibly the most explosive forward on Team Canada, with 43 points in 19 games. He has missed about 10 games with a shoulder injury. Even so, he is third in WHL scoring. He practised, but did not work out on a line.
DEFENCE
Joe Hicketts of the Victoria Royals, the WHL team also coached by Lowry, is the only returning defenceman from last year’s Canadian team. At five-foot-eight, he’s also the shortest in camp. And he’s the only undrafted 19-year-old, although he did sign with the Red Wings as a free agent.
But he typifies, much like Dermott and Chychrun, what Canada wants on defence: smart and mobile.
“It feels like we’re mixing really well,” Hicketts said. “We want to be a fast team. We want to get the puck out of our zone and play in the offensive zone as much as we can. That’s where our success is built.
“That’s how we played last year and that’s what we have to do going for- ward.”
GOALTENDING
If there’s an Achilles’ heel to Team Canada, it’s netminding, further put into a quandary when Blackwood ended up with a suspension for an infraction in the Barrie net. It means he can’t play for Canada until the third game. He’ll miss the opener against the Americans and the second game against Denmark.
“It’s certainly not Plan A,” said Scott Salmond, vice-president of hockey operations for Hockey Canada.
It meant the team abandoned its two-goalie system and invited a third. Samuel Montembeault of Blainville-Boisbriand (QMJHL) will back up Mason McDonald of Charlottetown (QMJHL) for the first two games.
Camp continues with two practices Friday at the MasterCard Centre. Then Canada will play two games against all-star teams from the local university teams. The first game is 7:30 on Saturday, the next noon on Sunday.