WJC Today - 12/27/11

FINLAND – CANADA

By now you know the story – Jonathan Huberdeau and Mark Stone basically dismantled Finland yesterday.

Stone had a hat trick and Huberdeau a goal and four assists in Team Canada’s 8-1 win over Team Finland to open up the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championship. Brendan Gallagher, Dougie Hamilton, Brett Connolly and Ryan Strone also scored for Canada while Mark Visentin got the win in net.

Along with his five points, Huberdeau took a penalty, won a faceoff, had two shots on goal and was a +4 in the game. The line of Huberdeau, Stone and Strome was Canada’s best on Monday.

Sea Dogs defenseman Nathan Beaulieu assisted on Huberdeau’s second period power play goal. Along with the helper, the Montreal Canadiens prospect served a penalty, took two shots and had an even rating.

Moncton Wildcats defenseman Brandon Gormley had an assist and was a +3. Shawinigan Cataractes forward Michael Bournival had no points and was a -1.

Chicoutimi Sagueneens netminder Christopher Gibson got the start in goal for Finland. He was in net for all eight goals and faced a total of 42 shots.

Here’s what the internet is saying yesterday’s tournament opener/Huberdeau’s performance.

• According to everyone on the internet, Devante Smith-Pelly is done for the tournament with a fractured foot. He sustained the injury the same way Jonathan Huberdeau did back in November – while blocking a shot. Huge loss for Canada.
• Buzzing The Net has a great post on Huberdeau’s performance. "It's feeling way better,” Huberdeau said of his foot, “but my conditioning [stamina] is little bit behind. I have to keep working on that and it's feeling better every day."
• Canada.com – Huberdeau got back up to speed quickly. “It’s great to see Jonathan get some confidence and start the tournament off with a game like that,” said Canadian head coach Don Hay. “Jonathan really sees the ice well and can put pucks into small areas. He has real good vision and it pays off by him making good plays.”
• The Edmonton Journal – a solid first impression. "I'm getting a ton of chances and just to play with these players - Strome and Huberdeau are so skilled," Stone said. "You could see it out there tonight. Just getting to the net is the way I'm going to score goals and I know they're going to find me."
• The Vancouver Sun - 'Little things' pay off in big way for Canada. "I mean ... not right now," said Huberdeau when asked in Canada needs to make any improvements heading Wednesday’s game. "We played great for 60 minutes today… For sure, we'll need adjustments, like every game. But that's what we're going to practise for the next game."
• Bob McKenzie’s blog. For Huberdeau to miss this time, it was probably as good a thing as it was for anybody because he was a physically tired player when he came back from the Panthers' training camp. Even though he lit it up in the Quebec league early on this year, he probably benefitted from having a six week rest, if you want to call it that.
• Sam Cosentino’s blog in which he spells Saint John incorrectly. After the game he told me that he's still using the protective skate shield, but a smaller, lighter version than that used by some NHL defencemen. Huberdeau's playmaking and snipability make him Canada's top offensive threat.
• Patrick King’s blog on Sportsnet.ca. "I've had some pretty good passes go my way," Stone said. "Huberdeau found me in the slot wide open twice so I just have to go to the net and guys like him and (Ryan) Strome are going to find me."
• A good column from Eric Duhatschek of The Globe and Mail.
• In case you were wondering, the Harper Governmentsupports the world juniors.

DENMARK – USA

Future Sea Dogs forward Charlie Coyle had a busy night for Team USA, netting a hat trick in his country’s 11-3 win over Denmark. Coyle also had five shots and a +3. He could have easily had four of five goals but was robbed a couple times by Denmark’s goaltender.

Coyle, formerly of Boston University, was named player of the game for the Americans.

Here is some stuff on that game.

• Canada.com – Americans roll in junior opener. “We didn't want to take them lightly. We knew it wasn't going to be that easy right off the bat. We kind of had a slow start, so we knew we needed to pick it up after the first period and that's what we did in the second and third,'' Coyle said.
• The Minnesota Star Tribune - Four players with ties to Minnesota score seven goals in U.S. rout
• College Hockey Blog – the good, the bad, and the ugly.
• MassLive.com’s recap. Dick Baker returns to remind us that Charlie Coyle has a lot a points in his career against UMass.
• The Pipeline Show – USA Thumps Denmark 11-3. "I guess at BU I am (was) more of a defensive guy that could contribute and score as well but it just so happened that the puck went off my stick and into the net today," Coyle explained, "My linemates made it easier for me, I was just at the end of all the plays. It gets your confidence up but I just want that to carry over to the next game and keep working hard."
• Also of note, Connor Brickley, whose QMJHL rights are owned by Saint John, was cut by a skate in this game and left. He is going to okay.

Here are NHL.com’s highlights of that game.

OTHER GAMES

In other action on Monday, Sweden blasted Latvia 9-4 and Russia shutout Switzerland 3-0.

TODAY

Today’s action sees the Czech Republic take on Denmark and Slovakia take on Latvia. Tomas Jurco and the Slovaks went 0-2 in pre-tournament play and did not even score a goal. A win today over Latvia would be huge.

COMMERCIAL

Every year at the world juniors, there is some company you rarely hear anything about that makes a big time commercial. This year it’s Canada Pacific. No clue why they needed to put so much effort into making a commercial about trains.