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SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

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TSN reporter Mark Masters checks in daily with news and notes on Team Canada, which held an off-ice workout in Vancouver ahead of their New Year's Eve showdown against Russia. 

During his junior days with Seattle, Tim Hunter got the chance to play the touring Russian stars in an exhibition game. He scored on Vladislav Tretiak, but that's not his most vivid memory from that night. 

"I learned a real trick," the 58-year-old recalled with a grin. "I can’t remember who it was, but he skated up beside me and he had his butt-end out on his stick and he put it on my bicep and he squeezed the butt-end to his hand, my bicep in between, and he goes, 'That’s the Russian hook,' and my bicep just went dead. It just ​went numb. I was like, 'Seriously!?' So, fun stuff. 

"We played it in Portland and we put together a bit of an all-star team. It was fun to be on the ice with those guys at that age. They were going half-speed, of course, because we were kids and they were men."

It will be full speed tonight as Hunter gets another crack at the Russians this time as Team Canada's coach at the World Juniors. His players don't know exactly what it was like at the height of the rivalry, but still have an appreciation for what this means. 

"I don’t think we like each other very much," said captain Maxime Comtois. "There’s a lot of intensity in those games. Every time I’ve played Russia it’s been a good game so I’m excited for that. And obviously the Jordan Eberle goal (in the 2009 semi-finals) is my favourite World Junior moment and it’s against Russia so it will be fun to be a part of it tonight."

"It's a game for first place," said Russian defenceman Dmitri Samorukov, "and I’ll say every game against Canada is a game for first place."

The stakes are high for both undefeated teams with the winner securing a quarterfinal date with Slovakia and the loser – barring a Kazakhstan upset of Sweden – facing either Finland or the United States. The building should be packed with a party atmosphere on New Year's Eve. 

"I didn’t see a lot of Russian fans in there, but it’s fun," noted Samorukov. "It’s always fun to win when you have like 10 or 50 fans where there’s a building where there’s 15,000 people so we can make it some story."

"I've been proud of our guys so far with how they've handled their emotions," said Hunter, "and I expect nothing different here tonight."

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Samorukov​ gave Evan Bouchard a hug in the media area this morning as he crossed paths with a fellow Oilers prospect. They also shared a laugh over Samorukov​'s eventful game against the Swiss last night. He took two tripping penalties in the same sequence leading to two penalty shots. 

"He showed me how to back check," Samorukov​ said with a chuckle while pointing at Bouchard. "I learned from him how to back check and got two penalties for that so he’s a bad teacher. Never do it again."

But it was fatigue and not the Team Canada defenceman that was really to blame. 

"I played like 90 seconds so I was tired and the puck was just jumping everywhere," Samorukov​explained. "But I didn’t know he would get up so quick after the first one so I decided to do it a second time. On the second one I was scared, because the goalie was kind of relaxing so I was scared he would score."

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Shane Bowers got a huge boost during the summer getting invited to skate with fellow Nova Scotians Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Brad Marchand. 

"Being able to skate with arguably three of the best players in the world, it can only help me," Bowers said. "Just learning what they do and picking up little things they do was a big benefit for me."

What stood out the most?  

"Just their habits. Even though it was skate in mid-July they're still going all out and not taking any days off. Their work ethic and attention to detail is something that can't really be taught."

With Drake Batherson, a gold medallist last year with Team Canada, also taking part in some of the skates, the topic of the World Juniors did come up a few times. 

"Being around them a couple days a week was an awesome experience and being able to hang out with them was a lot of fun," Bowers said. 

And the Boston University forward received some supportive texts from his provincial pals after he made Canada's World Junior team. 

"It's a smaller province so everyone's really close and cheers for each other," he explained. "It's a special bond that the province has."

Before the tournament, Bowers received a video of support from students at his old school, William King Elementary, in Herring Cove.

"That's also special," the Avalanche prospect said. "My elementary school from a small town making a video is pretty cool and I saw it on the news a couple times."

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The other Nova Scotian on this year's Team Canada won't be able to play tonight. Defenceman Jared McIsaac was suspended one game for checking the head of Czech Republic forward Jachym Kondelik on Saturday. 

"Well, you know, normally you're playing as a team with six defenceman," said Hunter when asked about the impact. "The sad part about it is that he was just starting to play real well, but we'll forge on. These things happen."

 

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Projected Team Canada lineup for tonight's game:

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

Phillips-Bouchard
Brook-Mitchell
Smith-Dobson

DiPietro starts
Scott