Canada Faces Tough Road Toward Fourth-Straight World Junior Title
Posted December 25, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Canadian junior teams have been nothing if not impressive during their run of three straight World Junior Hockey titles. The fourth, however, may be the toughest yet.
For the second straight year Canada will play the tournament away from home, and with a younger team than any of the previous three, that alone will be a significant obstacle.
Not that the Canadians aren’t contenders and won’t be treated as such when the 2008 tournament kicks off in the Czech Republic on Dec. 26. The defending champs know regardless of who they bring, the target will always be on their back and they must play accordingly.
“We’re going to go there pretending we’re the New England Patriots and everybody hates us,” captain Karl Alzner said. “Last year, it was a really big deal to win for the first time overseas in a long time. We want to keep winning overseas.
“It’s not an option for us to settle for second-best or third-best. We really want to win again.”
Canada’s first test comes Wednesday against the host Czechs, two fifths of a pool that also features Sweden, Slovakia and newcomer Denmark.
Fortunately for the Canucks, the competition for the bye in Pool B looks stiffer with Russia, the U.S., Finland, Switzerland and Kazakhstan vying for the chance to advance to the knockout stage.
The second- and third-place teams in each pool cross over to meet in the quarter-finals. The final is January 5th.
Canada won the 2007 title in Sweden with 11 veterans from the previous year’s team in Vancouver, including five on defence. But this year’s story is much different. This Canadian team is the country’s fifth-youngest of the last 25 years with an average age of just under 19. Four of the seven defencemen are 18. Playing on the larger European ice will also be a factor.
Craig Hartsburg, in his second year behind Canada’s bench, wants his team’s focus to be on sound defence. “Last year, the defence were outstanding, but it took a group of five on the ice plus your goaltender to defend,” Hartsburg said. “We feel we’ve got a lot of speed and we can put a lot of pressure on people up ice.
“We’re not just going to sit back and defend. We want to make it very hard on the opposition every shift because we’re going to outwork them within our system.”
The good news for Canada is that many of their junior players had great success against the Russia in the summer’s Super Series. The 7-0-1 mark should be something the young team can draw confidence from.
Kyle Turris, the top Canadian taken in this year’s NHL draft at No. 3, is emerging as Canada’s chief goal scorer, but many eyes will be on 17-year-old John Tavares, who most expect will be a future No. 1 overall pick.
Defencemen Alzner and Drew Doughty will be counted on to help shut down opposing scorers. But few will be counted on more than Canada’s goaltenders, and Jonathan Bernier and Steve Mason will have a tough act to follow behind Carey Price, who was the tournament MVP in Sweden.
Other players to watch include Russian forward Alexei Cherepanov, U.S. forward James vanRiemsdyk, Czech forward Jakub Voracek, Finnish goaltender Riku Helenius and centre Michael Backlund of Sweden.
