The events of the next few days are canceled on all sides, all sides. But the World Junior Hockey Championship has yet to take place in Edmonton and Red Deer. And Team Canada is all set for its first and only pre-season game, which will take place on Thursday night.
Normally, teams have three preseason games to create some chemistry and make adjustments for the real tournament. For reasons that we all know, they will have only one this year. Canada takes on Russia on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.
“It’s going to give us the chance to see our offensive combinations at work, to polish the system and just hit the next level of competition, as players face a good team rather than just their teammates,” said the Head Coach Dave Cameron the day before the game.
On Wednesday in training, Quebecer Xavier Bourgault found himself on the first line alongside Cole Perfetti and Shane Wright, while Mavrik Bourque was to the right of Mason McTavish and Kent Johnson on the second row. Elliot Desnoyers played for his part on the third line. But the coach clarified that he preferred not to number his lines.
“The biggest challenge with such a group of top players is that there is a high percentage of them who are offensive in their club, so I have to put them in the mentality where we want to generate offensive, but we don’t want to give too much back either, ”he also noted.
The pilot also mentioned that he hoped not to have to mix up his line combinations too much over the first few games.
In addition, the changes to the preparatory schedule had the effect of complicating the coaches’ task in choosing the starting goalkeeper for the first duels. When it came time to answer questions from the media around 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Cameron still had no idea who Dylan Garand, Sebastian Cossa and Brett Brochu would be in net against Russia.
“We had a lot of discussions, made several scenarios, but honestly, we haven’t made a final decision yet,” he said. […] We are very happy with the keepers we have. This is only positive. When you work with the best of the best, they make all of your decisions difficult. ”
Finally a match
The three players who spoke to the media all said they were excited to finally jump on the ice for a clash. We can understand them.
“We want to win,” said New York Rangers forward and prospect Will Cuylle. That’s the point. This is what we have prepared for. Everyone is ready to meet the expectations that there are of us. ”
Remember that in order to comply with the measures imposed over the last few days by the Alberta government, the amphitheatres can only be filled to 50% of their capacity. But it’s better than nothing, the young men recalled.
“You always dream of a Canadian crowd, but at the end of the day it will be at least half the arena full and it will be awesome. It’s just exciting to play, ”hinted forward Kent Johnson.
“I have friends and family who will be coming to the games,” Calgary native defenseman Olen Zellweger said. It’s just an honor to wear the maple leaf, at home too. ”
In Alberta, the health situation continues to deteriorate. While Tuesday’s report reported 786 new cases of COVID-19, Wednesday’s reported 1346 …
When asked if he was worried that the tournament would be called off in the next few days, Zellweger recalled that the teams are “very protected”.
“We take all protocols seriously: we wear masks, use disinfectant and wash our hands,” he listed. I don’t think that’s a concern for us. ”
Team Canada is scheduled to play its first “real” match on December 26, at 7 pm, against the Czech Republic.