EDMONTON | Injured Wednesday night against Switzerland, center Ridly Greig was not on the ice Thursday during Team Canada junior practice on the eve of the semi-final match against the Czechs. If ECJ was unable to provide an update on his health status, one thing was clear: his absence would cause a complete upheaval in the team’s roster.
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Greig injured his left arm in the first period of the quarter-final match when he was hit by Vincent Despont of Switzerland. In the end, Greig’s condition will be the domino that knocks everyone else down heading into Friday’s game.
As of Thursday, the forecasts were not in favor of the presence of the No. 17 in the Canadian line-up for the game Friday afternoon, 4 p.m., against the Czechs.
That’s why in training on Thursday, only the team’s second line, made up of Kent Johnson, Tyson Foerster and Logan Stankoven, remained intact. Mason McTavish was flanked by Joshua Roy and William Dufour while Connor Bedard played on the third line with Nathan Gaucher in the center and Will Cuylle on the left.
Brennan Othmann, Elliot Desnoyers and Zack Ostapchuk completed the fourth line while Canadian prospect Riley Kidney acted as 13e attacker.
“Ridly has probably been our most consistent player since the start of the tournament. He plays in all situations,” admitted head coach Dave Cameron on Thursday.
Archive photo, Martin Chevalier
Ridly Greig in the Belleville Senators uniform, in February 2021.
ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY
Certainly, Greig’s absence would provide Roy and Dufour with another golden opportunity to play a prominent role in the team’s success, being paired with what is probably the tournament’s best player in Mason McTavish.
“Dave met with us before practice to tell us that our role would still be to face the best lines on the other side,” Roy said. With McTavish, we should be able to produce a lot of attack too. »
Certainly, by being placed with the captain, the two Quebecers will be called upon to create things in attack. For assistant coach Louis Robitaille, it won’t be far from the role they had with Greig as center player.
“A lot of people say it’s a defensive line. At the same time, the defense starts in possession of the puck. If you have the puck and you play 200 feet, you put a good forecheck, it will be hard to play against them. That’s what they do and they’re aware of their defense when they’re on the ice. The fact that they are responsible along the boards and in their decision-making makes it easy to put them against the big lines. On the other hand, to say that it is only a defensive trio, we would be mistaken. Their line was producing a lot at five-on-five with Ridly, so we expect the same with Mason tomorrow. »
CZECHIA IN THE SIGHT
That being said, whether with or without Ridly Greig, Junior Team Canada will hit the ice at 4 p.m. ET on Friday to try to secure their place in the final by facing the surprising Czechs, who fell to the Americans in the quarter-finals.
In the first meeting between the two teams, during the preliminary round, the Canadians made short work of the Czechs by a score of 5-1, also dominating them 57-23 in the penalty shootout column.
“I think we will face the same kind of team, a team that works hard. If we play like we played against them in the first match, it will be fine. […] Against Switzerland, we didn’t play our best game. It’s like our mulligan, if we can say it like that, and we’ll be ready,” mentioned William Dufour.