Brandon Saad Misses the cut for Team USA

I'm sad to see Saad didn't make the final cut for Team USA for the World Junior Championships. But you have to give Team USA officials credit. They've assembled a strong group of talented players and look poised to defend their gold medal on home soil.

Of course, as expected, Jack Campbell of the Windsor Spitfires will be the starting goalie when the puck drops in Buffalo. Kitchener Rangers grad Jeremy Morin also made the squad as expected.

So between Canada and the USA we have one draft eligible player in Sean Couturier playing in the tournament. No worries as other teams, like Sweden with 6, will have plenty of players to watch for draft junkies.

Let the tournament begin !!!

To view the complete team USA roster, click here

WJC - Sweden Vs Canada

When it comes to draft eligibles, this was billed as Adam Larsson vs Sean Couturier, even though it was an exhibition game. But let's not forget Gabriel Landeskog of the Kitchener Rangers and Rickard Rackell of the Plymouth Whalers were also in this game.

The two teams had over a dozen combined power plays through the game and only Canada was able to convert on one, a 5 on 3 advantage. If either of the two teams want to compete with the favored Americans, they will have to improve their power plays.

As for the players, Couturier had a quiet game and maybe he was slowed by playing on consecutive nights. Defensively he was his usual self but the Swedes kept him in check offensively. He worked himself to the front of the net in the offensive zone and was his usual force in front of the net, hard to move, hard do contain.

Larsson was hard to notice in the first period, if not for a couple of giveaways with a very noticeable one at the end of the period where he had to take a penalty to recover. They continued through the second and the third as well. Obviously, a lot of the Swedes were suffering jet lag, but Larsson himself has had nagging injuries all season that have prevented him from having the same offensive out put as last season. You have to wonder how much that is affecting his game.

The Air Canada Center in Toronto was full of scouts and general managers and between periods Bob McKenzie talked about Adam Larsson and Gabriel Landeskog as "two players going in opposite directions" referring to Landeskog climbing the rankings and Larsson dropping.

Landeskog himself didn't have any travelling to do. He didn't play the night before, so he was rested. What you see from him in the OHL is what you saw in this game. Grit, a strong back check and fore check, great skating and puck handling and creating offensive chances.

Of the three potential top four picks Landeskog stood out the most on this night. But it is what it is, an exhibition game. And if he can carry it through the tournament and his team mate continues his struggles he could seriously contend to be a top 2 or even top pick.

Rackell too had a quiet game. A potential second round pick could vault himself into the late first round with a strong tournament. A point per game player for the Whalers in the OHL, he'll be counted on to provide some offense for Sweden. But it didn't happen on this night.

It's a short tournament and there is no room for error. Not for the countries involved or for the players looking to solidify their positions to play in the NHL.

We are still over 6 months away from the NHL draft, but this could be the tournament where we can see some separation, or at least a consensus on where the players belong in the rankings.

For highlights and analysis of the game, visit tsn.ca

To view the game in its entirety visit watch.tsn.ca

Nugent-Hopkins and Murphy Don't Make the Cut.

It didn't come as a surprise this morning to learn that 2 of the early top 10 prospects for Team Canada did not make the roster for the World Junior Championships which begin in Buffalo later this month.

Both are tremendously talented players, but when you can lean on experience for a tournament like this, sometimes experience wins out when you have players of the same skill set.

Nugent-Hopkins will return to the WHL and Murphy will return to the OHL, and both will be better off from the experiences they had in the past few days. I won't hesitate to say that both will also have an added jump to their steps.

We'll have one 2011 draft eligible player to watch though. Sean Couturier was more than solid in all zones for the 3 games and last night showed why he could be the premiere player in the draft.

As expected, netminders JP Anderson and Calvin Pickard will be heading home, leaving Olivier Roy and Mark Visentin as the goaltending tandem for this year's squad. I would suspect that Visentin gets the starters job.

The 2012 eligible defenseman Ryan Murray was also sent home, but not before opening a lot of eyes and telling the hockey world "watch for me in 2012". He truly had a superb camp.

The other players released were  Chicago Blackhawks prospect Brandon Pirri, winger Michael Bournival,  forward Riley Sheahen and defenceman Mark Pysyk.

Team Canada's roster now looks like this: forwards Brayden Schenn, Carter Ashton, Casey Cizikas, Brett Connolly, Cody Eakin, Marcus Foligno, Curtis Hamilton, Quinton Howden, Ryan Johansen, Zack Kassian, Louis Leblanc, Jaden Schwartz and Sean Couturier.

The defense has some experience with returnees Jared Cowen, Calvin de Haan and Ryan Ellis who will be joined by Dylan Olsen, Simon Despres, Tyson Barrie and Erik Gudbranson.

The only real surprise for me was the inclusion of Gudbranson, who hasn't had the season he is capable of having, and really didn't have a good camp. But Team Canada is carrying 7 defensemen and his size and shut down capabilities couldn't be overlooked.

Team Canada's camp now moves to the Niagara Region and will play a series of exibition games before beginning the tournament on Boxing Day.

Good luck to Team Canada !

Team Canada Beats University All-stars Prior to Making Their Final Cuts

Team Canada took on a squad of University players on Tuesday evening, the eve of the final roster being announced. Scratched for the game for the Canadians were all 4 returnees, Ellis, de Haan, Cowen and Schenn who are locks to be on the team. Also scratched for Canada were Johansen, Leblanc, Kassian, and Cizikas who was injured.

The Line combos for Canada were as follows: Bournival – Pirri - Schwartz; Eakin - Nugent-Hopkins - Connolly; Hamilton – Sheahan - Couturier; Ashton – Howden - Foligno.

The defense pairings were: Olsen - Gudbranson; Després - Pysyk; Murray - Barrie; Murphy. Roy started in goal for the all-stars, Visentin for Team Canada.

The Hamilton – Sheahan – Couturier line meant business. Sheahan opens scoring for Canada with assists to Couturier and Hamilton with just over six minutes to play in the first. And that`s how the first period ended with Team Canada outshooting the all-stars 14-7.

Team Canada came out quickly in the second period with Eakin scoring at the 53 second mark of 2nd period with assists going to Després and Bournival.

At the halfway point the teams switched goalies. Visentin gives up zero goals on 11 shots by the all-stars. Roy gives up 2 goals on 24 shots by Team Canada. Pickard took over for the all-stars while Anderson went in for Team Canada.

2012 draft eligible defenseman Ryan Murray scored on the power play with assists to Schwartz and Pysyk gave Canada a 3-0 lead. An incredible feed by Couturier to Foligno made it 4-0 with Sheahan picking up the 2^nd assist.

Sheahan picked up his 2^nd assist to go along with his goal when he and Howden set up Hamilton to make it 5-0 for Canada.

Charles-Antoine Tessier scored with 5 minutes remaining for the all stars to end the shut out bid.

Canada got that one back when Ashton scores on a nice feed from Couturier and Murphy with 3 minutes remaining.

One would think that Visentin gets the starting job with Roy as backup if you go by the last 3 days. I would think that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Ryan Murphy will both be odd men out, not because they don’t deserve to be there but there are more experienced guys who bring the same game. Eric Gudbranson could also be a big question mark. He really underperformed in the 3 games and was a minus on each night. He had a brutal giveaway in the final minute Tuesday night where he took a penalty to recover.

The pleasant surprise is Ryan Murray who isn’t draft eligible until 2012. There were 7 defensemen vying for 3 spots, and he may have taken one with his performance over the past 3 days.

We’ll find out Wednesday morning as the final cuts will be announced. I expect that to happen around 9 am.

USA Hockey announces roster for World Junior Championships.

From an OHL standpoint, Brandon Saad was named to the roster as one of the 29 tryouts to make the squad.

Not a lot of surprises here at all. Some, including yours truly, were expecting politics to play a role in the selections, but it didn't. I know a lot of Bruins fans were hoping and expecting Jared Knight to be named to the roster, and while he is having a good season, he is having his ups and downs like his team, the London Knights.

It looks right now that Team USA is solidly built for a repeat, with a good combination of talent and toughness and size. And of course, Jack Campbell in net.

Full story and video of the announcement is available here