Canadian prospect Kaiden Guhle has long been anticipated to captain Junior Team Canada; it is now official. It remains to be seen whether the “bubble” in which the World Championship will take place, in Edmonton and Red Deer, will hold up.
On Monday afternoon, Hockey Canada confirmed that Guhle will wear the “C” during the tournament, which officially gets underway on December 26th.
Guhle heard the news from Sidney Crosby’s voice, no less, in a pre-recorded video message. “It was a special moment. We do not receive messages from players of this caliber every day, ”Guhle admitted in videoconference, not exactly the type to display his emotions.
“Kaiden is a real pro. He works every day, he speaks through his actions and he is very humble. His experience from last year will help, ”noted Team Canada junior head coach Dave Cameron.
“He has it all, he leads by example, he speaks at the right time and he is able to say the things guys don’t always like to hear,” added forward Jake Neighbors, who was appointed assistant on Monday. .
PHOTO JEFF MCINTOSH, ARCHIVES THE CANADIAN PRESS
Jake Neighbors was named assistant to Junior Team Canada on Monday.
[Guhle] has been in this tournament before and knows what it takes to make it all the way to the end. He also has the motivation for losing in the final last year.
Jake Neighbors
Guhle is indeed one of three players in the 2021 edition of the tournament who once again have the chance to participate in this year’s competition. Last year, the Canadiens’ first-round pick in 2020 (16e overall) had scored three points in seven games.
The young man will not be at his first experience as a captain. He had that role in Prince Albert last year and this season, until the Raiders traded him to the Edmonton Oil Kings earlier in December.
But in Prince Albert, he played under head coach Marc Habscheid and his assistant Jeff Truitt. Now these two coaches also led a certain defender with a certain personality reminiscent of Guhle’s.
“Marc and Jeff were fortunate to lead Shea Weber in Kelowna,” Guhle said. They described Shea’s leadership to me: holding his teammates accountable, being there for them. I will try to be a leader on the ice and away. ”
Omicron arrives
Guhle will now have to cross his fingers to be able to actually wear the “C” on the maple leaf sweater, as the wave of COVID-19 infections is catching up with Alberta. In light of today’s figures, the bubble in which tournament participants are isolated should be waterproof.
On Monday afternoon, the Alberta government unveiled its weekend update on COVID-19 cases in the province. Among the main lines:
- 1,925 new cases reported in the last three days, for an average of 642 per day. On December 11, the 7-day moving average was 298.
- Of these 1,925 new cases, 872 were of the Omicron variant. In the previous update (Friday), only 54 cases of this variant were reported (over 24 hours).
Joined a few minutes before the publication of these figures, the Dr Joe Vipond, an emergency physician at Rockyview Hospital in Calgary, was already sounding the alarm, from the 54 Omicron cases reported on Friday.
“As of Friday, the Omicron was doubling approximately every two days,” explained Dr.r Vipond, on the phone. That means we would have 200 cases today, 400 cases on December 22, 1,600 cases on December 26. “His projections were quickly exceeded …
At the height of the third wave on April 30, the province hit a record high of 2,406 new cases in a single day.
We could reach this level on December 28. That’s it, exponential growth.
The Dr Joe Vipond, emergency physician at Rockyview Hospital
“No sports event has succeeded in avoiding cases of COVID,” continues the doctor. We weren’t successful in the NFL, the NBA or the NHL. So, am I optimistic? No I’m not. In the middle of a wave, with a new variant whose mortality levels are unknown, not to mention the long COVID, I cannot be in favor of internal events. Hockey can’t be played on Zoom! What can really help are masks, and athletes cannot wear that kind of protection. ”
Preparatory matches canceled
Unlike the professional circuits mentioned above, however, the World Championship teams must confine themselves to a bubble, which includes the arena and the hotel. These teams were also required to undergo a two-day quarantine upon arrival in Alberta, December 15-17.
The tournament organizers have also limited the preparatory matches. The Canadians were scheduled to play three on December 19, 20 and 22. They will eventually play only one, and ticket sales for these events have been halted.
For now, the event is still scheduled in front of the public, with no limit to the number of spectators.
However, at the rate things are going, the World Junior Championships may well be a rare hockey competition to take place between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Holding the Spengler Cup seems less and less likely, and NHL teams continue to add names within COVID-19 protocol. At the time of this writing, 10 other names had been added to this list on Monday alone.
“Who knows what will happen? We take every precaution, and what will happen will happen. We will follow the protocols and we will cross our fingers, ”replied head coach Dave Cameron.