Canucks Prospect Camp

The Canucks prospect camp gets underway tomorrow, with a total of 37 players looking to impress coaches and management. Check out the Canucks press release for more details.

The complete roster has also been released. There are definately some notable prospects to keep an eye on, including Thomas Mojzis, Kiril Koltsov, Marc-Andre Bernier, Brandon Nolan and of course Nathan "Probable First Round Bust" Smith. The list also includes semi Canuck regulars Alex Auld(I guess you can consider him a 'full' regular now), Ryan Kesler, Jason King and Nolan Baumgartner.

Of note Fedor Fedorov and not surprisingly Brandon Reid are not on the list.

If anyone reading this is planning on attending any of the scrimmages I would love to read some of your impressions/thoughts. Post a comment or send me an email.

So with the pending lockout you might be asking what's the point of having a prospect camp? Well for one the Canucks would like to get a look at the progress their prospects have made over the offseason. With no NHL season on the horizon guys who can still play in minors(without having to clear waivers) get a chance to play and practice, while some other guys also get to audition for a spot on the Moose. One interesting 'battle', if you will, might be between the pipes. Alex Auld will obviously be the number one man for the Moose if there is no NHL season, that leaves newly acquired veteran Wade Flaherty battling it out with Rob McVicar. McVicar had a solid year last year splitting time between Manitoba(10 games) and Columbia of the ECHL. Flaherty meanwhile was brought in to replace Tyler Moss and give the Canucks some depth in case of injuries.

BTW the Manitoba Moose camp gets underway September 29th.

U.S. Eliminates Russia

Well so much for my prediction... The U.S. defeated Russia 5-3 last night, in what was arguably the best game of the tournament. The veterans on the U.S. squad came to play as Tkachuk was in on all 5 goals and with his fellow linemates Modano and Guerin, combined for 11 points. The game was up for grabs in the 3rd period when Zubrus tied the game 2-2, 36 seconds into the period. It looked like we were in for a great finish until the U.S. got two quick goals after a couple turnovers and bad bounces for the Russians. The Russians couldn't score with the net empty and Tkachuk picked up his 4th goal of the night on an empty net'er.

The win by the U.S. set up a semi-final matchup with Finland. The game will take place Friday in St.Paul at 4pm pst.

Canada takes on the Slovaks later tonight, back with a preview later...

Note: This post is a little delayed due to blogger.com having some issues this morning.

Sweden Eliminated

Well it's official Sweden has been eliminated. The Czechs hammered Sweden 6-1, scoring the first 5 goals of the contest. A dissapointing tournament for the Swedes... hey atleast it wasn't Belarus.

Of note Jagr left the game with an "undisclosed injury".

TSN Recap

CBC Recap

A couple other notes from the World Cup... Brett Hull will not play for the U.S. tonight... Wade Redden skated today but I would be shocked if he plays again in this tournament...

Labour Day Weekend Wrap Up

Hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend. I didn't get a chance to add anything to the blog, however I did get to watch two full games of hockey! After an entertaining game between Finland and Sweden, saturday night saw team Canada take care of the Russians with relative ease, winning 3-1. The game was fairly entertaining although it didn't feel anything like a classic Canada vs Russia confrontation. Perhaps that had to do with the complete lack of atmosphere at the Air Canada Centre. Too bad the rest of the games aren't in Montreal or somewhere out west, it would be nice to have some noise in the building.

The 'exhibition' games finally ended yesterday as Finland narrowly escaped embarrassment with a 2-1 victory over Germany. Nice to see the Germans put up a solid fight. Before the game defenseman Janni Niiniimaa left the team after a conflict with head coach Raimo Summanen. An interesting time to bail on your team, to say the least. From what I have read it sounds like Summanen is the Finnish equivalent of Mike Keanen and most Finnish fans are siding with Niiniimaa.

The other European quarter-final is currently underway, the Czech Republic is leading Sweden 2-0 after one period of play. It appears the Czechs have finally gotten their sh*t together after a lackluster start to the tourney. Sweden meanwhile would be tremendously disappointed if this score holds up. Many picked the Swedes to take the European division but of course their question marks in goal continue to be a serious issue. Of note, it appears that the Sedins have not seen any action in the tourney. This is due to their current contract status, no contract = no insurance.

Later tonight Russia takes on the U.S. in St Paul. Can the Americans get it together? I don't think so, I fully expect Russia to defeat the Americans. At this point the Russians have shown that they are more talented and simply want it more. Of course anything can happen...

World Cup of Hockey - Day 4

Wrapping up yesterdays action...

I missed most of the game but it looks like Canada had an easy time winning 5-1. Here is a game wrap up from TSN.

Once again the news wasn't all good for team Canada as they have now lost Wade Redden with an apparent shoulder injury. Jay Bouwmeester and Scott Hannan are now the 5th and 6th defenseman... check out what Bob McKenzie has to say about the Redden injury and the possible ramifications.

Earlier yesterday Sweden handed the Czech Republic there second straight loss. The Czechs were down and out early, but they came on strong and made a game of it in the third. Here is a recap from CBC

Updated Standings

North American Pool	GP	Pts
Canada	2	4
Russia	0	0
United States	1	0
Slovakia	1	0

European Pool	GP	Pts
Sweden	2	4
Finland	1	2
Germany	1	0
Czech Republic	2	0

Todays Games

Finland takes on Germany (10:30am pst)

Russia takes on the United States (4:00pm pst, CBC). Should be interesting to see what the Russians have to offer and the game will be a good test for the Americans. CBC with a preview

World Cup of Hockey Day 3

Canada vs Slovakia

Canada(1-0) takes on the injury depleted Slovakia(0-1) tonight(4pm pst CBC). Slovakia will be without Peter Bondra, Michael Handzus, Ziggy "Ballfy"(CP typo) and possibly Ladislav Nagy who is nursing an abdominal injury. Scott Hannan is expected to draw in for Ed Jovanovki, Kris Draper is in for Brendan Morrow and Jose Theodore is expected to back up Brodeur, although I wouldn't be surprised if Theodore starts. Kirk Maltby, Patrick Marleau, and Jay Bouwmeester will be the odd men out for a second straight game.

Yesterday I mentioned that Canada's games would be broadcast on the Team 1040, but that was incorrect. They are however on Mojo Radio.

Czech Republic vs Sweden

The European game today(10am pst CBC) is the Czech Republic vs Sweden. The Czechs(0-1), who have not played well, will be in tough against Sweden(1-0). Can the Czechs pull it together or will Sweden take care of them with ease? My money is on Sweden but you can't count the Czechs out. Vokoun was pretty good between the pipes against Finland and he could easily steal a game if Jagr and company can get it together. We will find out shorly...

Canada Defeats U.S. - Lose Jovo

Well it was nice to see some hockey again and it was even better to watch the Canadians beat the US. A pretty entertaining game all around(we even got to see a fight) in what should be the start to a great tournament... lets just hope we have seen the last of those terrible jerseys. It wasn't all good news for team Canada as Vancouver Canuck Ed Jovanovski is likely out for the remainder of the tournament. Expect Jay Bouwmeester to take Jovo's spot although it is being reported today that Scott Hannan will be in the lineup tonight.

As for the Americans they got off to a rough start but took over in the second half of the game. It was obvious their strategy was to get under the skin of Martin Brodeur, but Brodeur came up with several big saves to maintain the lead. The U.S. had an injury of their own losing Mike Modano to a "lower body injury". That's a tough blow to the Americans.

Anyway a preview of tonights game will be up shortly...