World Junior Hockey Championship

Steve Simmons has a good piece (Simmons & "good piece" is usually an oxymoron) in today's Toronto Sun. The WJC is a tournament that draws record numbers on TSN but is barely on the radar in most countries, including the US.

http://www.torontosun.com/sports/hockey/2010/12/22/16653056.html

The US is the hands-down favourite this year and the tourney's in Buffalo so that may grab a few American eyeballs.

Starts Boxing Day with Canada vs Russia.

Saw a couple of the exhibition games. The Canadian team is described as "lunch bucket" which usually means not much skill. Huggy went to the game against Sweden and he said we're gonna be in tough against the Yanks and the Russians.

The only downside is two weeks of the unbearable Pierre McGuire who is noted for picking a Canadian player and developing a huge man crush. He still hasn't got over Dion "Double Dion" Phaeuf from the '05 tourney. Based on pre-season games the lucky guy is going to be either Brayden Schenn or this year's version of Steve Downie, Zack Kassian.

 

Thankfully, since this tournament is on U.S. soil this year the NHL Network will telecast 15 games live using their own announcers so we won't be exposed to Pierre McGuire and the rest of the broadcasters from the great white north.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=546978

2011 IIHF World Junior Championship - NHL Network-U.S. Broadcast Schedule
Dec. 26 - Jan. 5, Buffalo, N.Y.

• Date Game Time (EST)
• Sun., Dec. 26 - Russia vs. Canada 4 p.m.
• - Finland vs. USA 8 p.m.

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• Tues., Dec. 28 - Canada vs. Czech Republic 4 p.m.
• - USA vs. Slovakia 8 p.m.

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• Wed., Dec. 29 - Norway vs. Canada 7:30 p.m.

[p]

• Thurs., Dec. 30 - Sweden vs. Czech Republic 3 p.m.
• - Germany vs. USA 7 p.m.

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• Fri., Dec. 31 - Canada vs. Sweden 4 p.m.
• - USA vs. Switzerland 8 p.m.

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• Sun., Jan. 2 - Quarterfinal #1 3:30 p.m.
• - Quarterfinal #2* 7:30 p.m.

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• Mon., Jan. 3 - Semifinal #1 3:30 p.m.
• - Semifinal #2* 7:30 p.m.

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• Wed., Jan. 5 - Bronze-Medal Game 3:30 p.m.
• - Gold-Medal Game 7:30 p.m.

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• *If qualified, USA will play at this time slot

 

The tournament is in Buffalo so when/if Canada and the US play in the medal round, there'll be no clear home ice advantage.

Other than McGuire's endless yammering, TSN does an absolute first rate job in covering the tourney. Gord Miller is solid as PBP and there's not a better analyst around than Bob McKenzie who actually knows something about junior hockey.

And the Globe also has the US has clear favourite. Yanks have 9 first round picks and 9 second round picks on their team.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/world-juniors/americans-the-favourites-in-junior-tournament/article1848929/

 

Although Bob Nicholson was on the radio the other day and said that about 65% of ticket sales were to Canadians. I'm pretty sure it was Nicholson, anyway. It was definitely somebody who would know.

And McGuire might make most of his hay doing pro hockey, and he may talk too much, and he may be the easiest target on TV, but I disagree with the idea he doesn't know anything about junior hockey.

 

Cox's take on Team Canada

http://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/juniorhockey/article/911887--cox-team-canada-bigger-stronger-and-hopefully-better

Still, more likely than dazzling the world with skill, a hulking Canadian team, with no forwards under 5-foot-10, will be intent on bludgeoning the enemy or, in the words of head scout Kevin Prendergast, being a team that “takes your will to win away.”

That’s code, if you don’t get it, for hitting and intimidating and using the terrific size of this team to make the Swiss long for Zurich, the Russians for Moscow and, ideally, the Americans wish they were anywhere but on home soil for the holidays.

 

The awesome Dave Bidini on what the tourney means to Canuckistanis.

http://www.nationalpost.com/Game+Boys/4022113/story.html

As for McGuire, I have always suspected that when it comes to junior hockey he only knows what the TSN people tell him. It's not like he spends a lot of time at junior games.

 

You know more about junior hockey than McGuire.

What I find particularly annoying is his constant slobbering over guys like Phaneuf and Hodgson. He sounds like he personally discovered them when some of us who go to junior games have watched these guys since they were sixteen.

 

I really miss the days when Paul Romanuk and Bob McKenzie did the WJC games on TSN.

I don't mind Gord Miller but to me Romanuk was much better and I loved McKenzie's understated analysis, which was light years removed from McGuire's hysteria, shout outs to various NHL front-office types or junior and college coaches, endless proclamations that every kid on the Canadian team is a great, character guy who will be a star very shortly in the NHL, never-ending coach speak and bag-licking of his player du jour. I should dig up that McGuire drinking game that someone linked on here ages ago. That was some funny shit.

 

http://uranowski.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/pierredrinkinggame1.jpg

 

Ha, that's it! Anyone playing this during the Canuckistani-Russia game on Boxing Day should be shitfaced by the first intermission!

 

You can catch Paul doing the Spengler Cup. Maybe Luch Aquino will be playing this year again.

 

Mmmmm .... Luch .....