Team Canada practiced on Friday in Mont-Tremblant, QC. TSN's Mark Masters is with the team and has the latest as Canada prepares for its first pre-tournament game against Finland on Monday in Montreal.

* Lyle Mast, the founder of Optimum Reaction (OR) Sports and mastermind of the Head Trajectory technique, joined Team Canada at practice on Friday. "Having him out here just adds another set of eyes for us and will help our goalies be as prepared as possible for the tournament," said Hockey Canada goalie consultant Fred Brathwaite. "We're just getting them to stay on pucks and getting their eyes focused on the pucks and using their head to get the trajectory on those pucks. Lyle's kind of, we'll call him the specialist on that, so I thought since I've worked with him for the last couple of years, bringing him in here would help." This is nothing new for Everett Silvertips goalie Carter Hart. "I work with (Oilers goalie coach) Dustin Schwartz in the summer regularly and then Lyle comes out actually for a summer camp that I'm always a part of so I've known Lyle for quite awhile now. It's nice to have a familiar face out there teaching you things that you're very familiar with. It's good because he's not speaking any foreign language. We're on the same page."

But Friday marked the first time Connor Ingram worked with Mast. "It's exciting," the Kamloops Blazers goalie said. "The guy knows a lot about what he's doing and he's proven it and it's awesome to have him out there and it's not just for this, it's helping us for the rest of our lives too." Is Ingram worried at all about being introduced to a new coach on the eve of such a big tournament? "It's not overwhelming. It's nothing new, nothing you haven't seen before," he explained. "It's not much learning, it's just applying. You use 10 per cent of your brain, he said he wants to make you use 100% per cent your game. He said all the assets are there, it's just activating them and applying them that's going to put you at the next level."

Mast is expected to work with Canada's goalies for the next couple of days. "We're not changing their styles," Brathwaite said. "We don't want to change anything about them. We're just trying to get them to see the puck a little bit more and try to slow the game down for them." Hart, who's father played with Mast many years ago, met the goalie guru through Schwartz, who he has worked with since his days at Edmonton's Vimy Ridge Academy. "They really stress tracking down through all our saves and tracking down through our movements and eliminating delay," Hart said. "I think that's one part of my game that's really improved is the patience side of the game and just eliminating delay throughout my movements and tracking."

* Hart sat out Wednesday's final selection camp scrimmage while Ingram and Michael McNiven battled for the No. 2 slot. "I don't think it's really set in for me yet," said Ingram, who will be making his Team Canada debut at the world Juniors. "I don't even have words for it. My parents are pretty excited. I think we shaved a few years off my mom's life the last couple of days." Ingram was worried that one of his brothers tempted fate by buying a Canada jersey with his name on it before the team was confirmed. "I was a little upset at that, but what can you do?" he said with a laugh.

The fun-loving Saskatchewan native could only chuckle during Friday's practice when Thomas Chabot tried the Peter Forsberg deke on him during a drill. Chabot pulled off the move during a recent QMJHL shootout and Ingram had seen the highlight. "I was just laughing at him," said Ingram, who roomed with Chabot during the selection camp. "Who expects that out of that guy?"

* After Team Canada's roster was confirmed, Mitchell Stephens posted a "Throwback Thursday" picture on Twitter of him, Taylor Raddysh, Dylan Strome and Michael McLeod when they all played for the Toronto Marlboros in the GTHL.

"To go through this process with them is awesome, because I've known them forever, pretty much," said Stephens. After practice on Friday, the four friends were asked to recall their time together. "That was in minor midget in the Silver Stick tournament," said Strome. "Mikey and Taylor ... got called up to our team and they played with us on a regular basis. We played together growing up so hopefully we can find some chemistry here." The Marlboros beat Compuware the day the picture was taken. "Dylan had a big game," McLeod said. "It's crazy, you know, growing up with those guys, playing on the same team and now reunited, it's pretty cool."

* While Stephens, Raddysh, Strome and McLeod go way back, there are a lot of guys who don't know each other and that's why this team bonding trip to chilly Mont-Tremblant is so important. "It's crucial," Stephens said. "Any moment we get to bond at another level other than hockey is amazing. At the end of the day you're going to go to war with the player beside you and if you don't know them then you might be skeptical about it. Having that mindset to be with each other and go to battle with them you need to actually know them." The players are rallying behind the "Be special" slogan that head coach Dominique Ducharme unveiled as the team's rallying cry. "It's a special tournament," said Strome. "There's so many positive things about this. It brings the whole country together so we want to be a special team that brings a special country together. Obviously, hockey is our main passion and pride and the world junior tournament is huge. There's 10 countries that want to win a gold medal, but for Canada I think it's a bit more amped up, more than any other country. The world juniors is such a big deal for us that we want to be special."

* Blake Speers was the only player to miss practice on Friday, which was the first on-ice session since the team was officially named. "We just wanted him to have a day off to get treatments," said Ducharme. "We want to make sure he's coming back gradually so he'll be 100 per cent when the tournament starts." Speers, who broke his wrist on Oct. 27 and was only cleared for contact this week, is expected to take part in Saturday's practice.

* Ducharme said the lines and pairings at Friday's practice will likely be the ones Canada uses in Monday's pre-tournament game against Finland at the Bell Centre. "We want to give our guys time to create chemistry and if we change our lines every day it's hard to create chemistry," the coach said.

* Lines at Friday's Team Canada practice:

Dubois-Strome-McLeod
Joseph-Barzal-Raddysh
Jost-Roy-Gauthier
Dube-Cirelli-Stephens

Chabot-Myers
Bean-Juulsen
Clague-Fabbro
Lauzon

Hart
Ingram