King on WJHC: Showcasing their abilities
Posted December 30, 2011 9:21 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
EDMONTON — Team Canada’s 10-2 romp over Team Denmark was a stat nerd’s heaven.
First, there was the impressive offensive performance from the normally stay-at-home defenceman Scott Harrington. His four-point night is a career-best since beginning in junior with the London Knights two and a half seasons ago.
Team Canada fired 51 shots at Danish goaltender Sebastian Feuk, a team-leading 10 of which came from Brandon Gormley. The Prince Edward Island product scored two of Canada’s final three goals and was named player of the game.
Then there was Harrington and Ryan Murray’s combined plus-14 rating, a dream night for a defensive pairing.
The stats tell the story of a blowout between a gold-medal contender and an opponent playing one of its final games before being relegated. But for all the stats accumulated on the box sheet, the biggest one won’t come to light until this summer.
Perhaps the stat that will matter most, at least where the Danes are concerned, is how many players end up being drafted. The stage was there for Team Denmark, whose most recognizable name, Nicklas Jensen, is already a first-round pick of the Vancouver Canucks.
Jensen, however, is the exception and not the rule among Danish players. For everyone else, this was an opportunity to showcase their skills in front of a group of scouts that may otherwise not see them play. They know they’re in attendance, as evidenced by the fact Los Angeles Kings co-director of amateur scouting and former Owen Sound Attack general manager, Mike Futa, won Wednesday’s massive 50/50 draw.
As is customary every time Canada creams a lower-level talent opponent, talks begin of contracting two teams from the tournament permanently. It’s an argument that isn’t without merit, but so often are the implications for the players overlooked as we watch a goal light flicker with reckless abandon.
More at Buzzing the Net: Thursday coast-to-coast: Connolly turns corner, Wedgewood stakes claim | Read it here
It can be downright painful to watch a dejected group of teenagers fishing pucks out of their net all night long. In last year’s tournament in Buffalo, a Norwegian goaltender pulled himself out of the game against Canada that was getting out of hand.
The disappointment was written on Steffen Soberg’s face after the game, just as it was his goaltending partner Lars Volden, who was then thrown to the wolves when Soberg yanked himself. It wasn’t a confidence builder for either player to be humiliated in a jam-packed National Hockey League facility.
What was, however, a confidence builder was the fact both Soberg and Volden were drafted in the summer. Soberg, a fourth-round pick to Washington and Volden, a sixth-rounder to the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins, now have the opportunity of pursuing a professional hockey career in North America — something that may not have been available had last year’s tournament only included eight teams.
At the end of the day, the Norwegians knew they were on a different level with the Canadians, just as the Danes knew well before stepping onto the ice for their whooping by Canada.
The Norwegians spoke positively of the experience last year, in spite of the number on the score board. That same line was trumpeted by the Danes following Thursday’s loss.
“This is great for us, great experience,” Jensen said. “We definitely can’t hang our heads.”
The old motto is that team success leads to individual success. While few would look at a 10-2 loss as the definition of success, for these players from a non-traditional hockey market, it can be. In some ways, the end justifies the means if some of their names are called at the draft this summer.
“If our team plays well, there’s a lot of players on our team that will be seen,” Jensen explains. “If we play well team hockey, everything will go well. If it’s individual or if it’s for a team, yeah, I do think if we keep playing hard and battling every shift, a lot of the guys in here will get a good opportunity.”
Feuk, who didn’t pull himself on Thursday, stopped 41-of-51 shots fired his way by Canada. Those numbers are hardly the type that would indicate a future Vezina Trophy winner, but not bad enough to close the door on any potential future. After all, his coach was lobbying for his future when asked about him after the game.
“(Goaltending) was a big question mark for our team coming into the tournament,” Denmark head coach Todd Bjorkstrand said. “Sebastian’s done a great job for us.
“He’s a free agent. He’s looking for a team. He doesn’t have a team back in Denmark, so if anyone’s interested.”
Someone may just be interested now and that’s the only stat that matters.
