HabsCast Hockey Blog

This year, like every year, boxing day will mean for a lot of hockey fans in Canada the first day of the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship, one of our best holiday traditions.

And now that the official roster for Team Canada 2008 has been revealed, the time is good to take a look at what this year’s edition of this annual tournament has to offer. We’ll start by looking, of course, at our very own Team Canada. A team that is a brand new one compared to last year’s team, and we could say a very inexperienced one. We mustn’t forget though to take into consideration the fact that a lot of these new players took part in the Canada-Russia Super Series that took place this summer and also the fact that a lot of the young players on this team are very talented, and i mean Very.. Let’s first take a look at how we’ll be doing on offense.

Although the only returning forward from last year’s tournament is Halifax native Brad Marchand he’s not the one evryone has been talking about in the last couple of weeks. The focus is mainly around three offensive stars, one of whom has already been drafted third overall in this year’s draft by the Phoenix Coyotes, Kyle Turris. The other two will be eligible in the next few years; Sarnia’s Steven Stamkos is projected to be the number 1 draft pick in the ‘08 draft while young gun John Tavares will without a doubt be competing for the first spot in the ‘09 draft. These three guys are definitely the ones to watch on offense this year. Turris was exceptionnal in the Super Series and will try to prove yet again that he’s ready for big level hockey. John Tavares is probably the best player currently playing in the CHL (he’s already piled up 68 points in only 30 games played with Oshawa) but a lot of people remember him as a big disssapointment against Russia this summer, he’ll certainly try to bounce back. As for the mature, intelligent and consistant player that his Steven Stamkos, most of us will really see him play for the first time next week. (If any of you require a proof of his amazing talent just type his name on youtube.. you’ll see).

Other returning forwards from the Super Series are: Brandon Sutter who did exceptionnally well this summer and who will no doubt be seeing a lot of ice time during the world juniors, especially on the special units because of his really good work ethic and talent in forechecking and puck-chasing situations; The excellent Stefan Legein who is returning to bring a lot of character to this team so is Colton Gillies, the biggest guy on this team and definitely one of the hardest hitter. The last returning forward is Lethbridge Hurricanes’ Zac Boychuk, one of the top rookie of the year in the WHL.

Kitchener’s Matthew Halishchuk (a fast skater, good with the puck though physically weak), Moose Jaw’s Riley Holzapfel (also small-sized but an hard worker with a strong shot), Belleville’s Shawn Matthias (good skater and hard worker, though tends to make mistakes in his own zone) and Sault-Ste-Marie’s Wayne Simmonds (a physical forward with a nice shot and a lot of offensive abilities) are all at their first experience in major-junior hockey on the international level but still all NHL-drafted players.

I wanted to keep Gatineau Olympics’ RW Claude Giroux for dessert ’cause he is the player i know better for having seen him play on numerous occasions and, in my opinion, although he’s one of the only player on the team from the QMJHL, could very well be a big factor in the team’s success during the holidays. He is extremely agile, very fast, and an intelligent player and playmaker. He may be, with Brad Marchand, one of the smallest players on the team but he always uses his size to his advantage in the neutral zone to eacape coverage and create turnarounds. Giroux may be one of the most underrated players going into this tournament.

Talk to you later for the defensive players and the goalies.

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