Columnist image

SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

| Archive

TSN reporter Mark Masters checks in daily with news and notes on Team Canada, which held an off-ice workout in Vancouver ahead of tonight's World Juniors opener against Denmark.

---

Tim Hunter has won titles before. He played for the 1989 Stanley Cup champion Calgary Flames. He was an assistant coach on last year’s gold medal-winning team at the World Juniors. So, he knows what it takes to win it all and he’s already sensing this year’s Team Canada is a special one.

"Just the little things," the head coach observed. "When they’re together, they’re all together, they’re talking in the room. They sit together, they move around together, there are no cliques. We've come together as a group, as a family."

The coaching staff "tuned up" the players this morning with a video session featuring the team doing things well. What's the mindset of the group?

"Very positive, very confident and that’s what they should be and that’s what I told them," Hunter said. "They’re a good team when they play together, play connected, play fast together and not as individuals, play fast together as five guys connected on the ice."

As always, expectations are high for Team Canada, including inside the dressing room.

"I think a gold medal is pretty reasonable," said London Knights defenceman Evan Bouchard. "We have a really strong team ... Defending champs and being at home there’s a little more pressure, but I think we’re ready for that."

"We don’t see that as pressure," Rimouski left winger Alexis Lafrenière said. "It’s much more energy from the crowd. I think they’ll help us tonight and in all the games that we play. We really expect ourselves to win gold and we’ll work hard for that and it starts tonight."

One day into his tenure as captain, it was up to Maxime Comtois to pump the brakes a bit.

"We want to win, but we have to learn how and it’s going to start tonight," the Drummondville left winger said. "We haven’t played a full 60 minutes so far and this is our chance to start the tournament the right way. We have to come out hard and take advantage. It’s going to be packed, it’s going to be loud and we’re going to need the fans to play our game and get energy to get going."

---

Lafrenière has defied the odds to get to this point. Seventeen-year-olds rarely make Team Canada and Lafrenière would have been cut a couple weeks ago had Gabriel Vilardi been healthy enough to play. And a selection camp injury to Alex Formenton also pushed him up the depth chart. Now he's about to become the ninth youngest player to suit up for Team Canada at the World Juniors.

"He's a tremendous player," said Comtois. "He's a skilled guy and making the right plays. Out there we don't think he's 17, he's playing like a 19-year-old."

Hunter agrees and as a result Lafrenière won't just play tonight, he'll start in a prominent spot alongside Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Nick Suzuki. Why does the coach trust the kid with the role?

"His high hockey IQ and his high skill level," Hunter explained. "He can transfer pucks from his possession to his teammates in tight spaces, get pucks off, shoot pucks, make plays and his ability to skate and function at a high speed for a young man so impressed with all that. He's like a lot of young players where he has moments out there where he's a little forgetful, but he's come a long way from the start from now and we see he'll come even further and that's why he's going to play where he's going to play to start with."

Anderson-Dolan may be the perfect person to shepherd Lafrenière through the tournament. The Spokane centre started the season in the NHL with the Los Angeles Kings and has been described by Hunter as one of Team Canada's most detailed players.

"He's a confident kid," said Anderson-Dolan. "He's pretty outgoing and his skill speaks for itself out there. He's young, but he plays a heavy game. He's pretty physically mature for how young he is. We'll rely on him to bring some offence."

Lafrenière has 54 points in 31 QMJHL games this season and sees no reason why he can't continue to produce at this level.

"I can bring some offence," Lafrenière said. "I have to play all three zones. JAD helps me a lot on little details on and off the ice, it's really good for me. He calls a lot of plays on the bench and that's good for us."

---

Last year, one of the key turning points in Canada’s gold medal run was the decision to go with the DJ Otzi cover of the Bruce Channel ballad, "Hey Baby" as the goal song. It was a controversial move that shocked the notoriously conservative hockey establishment. But the risk paid off as the song fired up the fan base and bolstered Canada’s attack.

"We talked about maybe using it again, but we’re going to write our own story with this one," said forward Jack Studnicka.

Team Canada's players have refused to divulge the choice for this year's song despite repeated questioning.

"It’s a song," said smiling goalie Mikey DiPietro coyly. "It’s a good song. And we all like it."

Stay tuned.

---

Projected Team Canada line-up:

Comtois - Glass - Tippett
Lafrenière - Anderson-Dolan - Suzuki
Frost - Hayton - Leason
Veleno - Bowers - Studnicka
Entwistle

Phillips - Bouchard
Brook - Mitchell
Smith - Dobson
McIsaac

DiPietro starts
Scott