USA vs Canada in WJAC Final

It's been a long week in Camrose but it will all be over on Sunday night after the gold medal game which features the United States and Canada West.

The expression is: even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

Well since Dean and I both correctly predicted this match up three weeks ago that must mean we're either geniuses or just that the expression needs updating to 'two blind squirrels'.

There were three games on Saturday, let's go in order.

Russia 8 - Germany 2

Russia dominated Germany pretty much from the outset of the game but it became clear to me that it was because they weren't having to pay a physical price like they did with their North American opponents. In this game the highly skilled Russians, and there are some beauties here let me tell you, they were able to do whatever they wanted to and the final score is indicative of that.

Jerome Flaake (TOR) actually got the Germans off to an early lead but like I said, from then on it was all Russia.

Kirill Kabanov had a strong game with a goal and two assists, Stanislav Bocharov had a hat trick but those weren't the guys I'm going to remember from this game.

#15 Evgeny Kuznetsov has the hands, vision and creative instincts of a 30-year-old veteran but my 4-year-old son could teach him a thing or two about maturity. I have never seen a player smack his stick on the ice, slam the door on the bench, shake his head at teammates or generally sulk and pout like this kid does. After every whistle this guy is whining. It's a shame because he's a super talent but man... what a cry baby!

#19 Alexander Burmistrov was phenomenal today. There was one shift where he started the play from his own end, lugged it the entire length of the ice and was able to control it in Germany's zone... about a 40 second span never losing control of the puck once. He's shifty and really quick. It was by far his best game and I wonder how much of that was because of who the opponent was, but today he was terrific.

#23 Maxim Kitsin has been really hot and cold in this event, at least to me, and that continued today. He has the great combination on size, speed and skill but doesn't always use them together. At one point he took a great pass from Kuznetsov, dangled his way to the front of the net but then fired it 2 feet over the crossbar. Later he was given a penalty shot and it might have been the worst attempted deke I have seen in the last 2 years (pictured). Still, whenever I'd talk to a scout about the Russians, it wasn't long before his name came up.

I have decided that Russian head coach Vladimir Plyuschev needs anger management. At every whistle a quick glance at the Russian bench earns a person a view of Plyuschev gesturing wildly as he rips into one of his players. It doesn't matter whether the score is 1-0 or 6-0, whether Russia is winning or losing... if your shift just ended there is a 1 in 5 chance that you're going to get an earful. It's comical and embarrassing all at the same time.

Germany goes home in last place but in a sense it was mission accomplished. To understand what I mean you'll have to hear it from assistant coach Jeff Tomlinson who I spoke with after the game.

USA 5 - Canada East 1

In my opinion, Team USHL is the best squad here and they are on a roll that I don't think will end without a gold medal. They have scored 18 goals in the last 3 games and have only allowed 6 against in that span. Today it was a rematch with CAN East who they beat 5-3 in the round robin.

Danny Kristo was back in the line up and his high ankle sprain (or flu!) didn't seem to affect him much. Matt Donovan (NYI) has a pair of goals including the game winner. One guy I haven't really mentioned this week is #8 Mike Cichy but he's been very good and was again in this one today.

In net Mike Lee was again very strong. Dean asked me a couple hours ago who my tournament MVP would be to this point and Lee's name was the one that came to the front of my brain (where there is ample room for it to roll around).

Canada East was a disappointment for me. It should be mentioned that the American squad is older, bigger and more mature and I think it was a definite factor. However, the Eastern Canadians were not much of a threat in this game and I honestly can't recall a stretch where they had momentum or any kind of pressure.

I spoke with head coach Mark Grady afterwards.

From the USA side, I had postgame chats with Matt Donovan (NYI-4th) and Max NiCastro (DET-3rd) as well as coach Mark Carlson.

Canada West 4 - Belarus 1

This game was a lot closer that it should have been. Belarus was not out of this game until midway through the third despite taking a ton of penalties. I give a ton of credit to goalie Vitali Bialinski who was named player of the game for Belarus after seeing 43 shots, many of them during Canadian power plays.

The Belarussians actually had some jump and resilience in their game tonight. #12 Mikalai Susla is the only 1991 born player on the team but he was one of the best on the ice and scored his side's only goal of the night. #15 Siarhei Drozd has been dynamite but was held off the score sheet in this one.

For Canada it was a pair of players who haven't gotten much mention yet who got rave reviews tonight. #23 Brodie Reid and #21 Curtis McKenzie had a ton of chemistry going and impressed friend of The Pipeline Show Peter Loubardias who took in the festivities with me tonight.

The game started to slip away from Belarus as the second period wound on. They had just tied the game then got into penalty trouble which got momentum back behind Canada. Once the hosts struck for a 2-1 lead the Belarussians looked a bit frazzled and when Canada made it 3-1 before the end of the period, you could hear the air being let out of their tires.

I give them credit, they hung in their as best they could and halfway through looked as legit as Canada did but in the end they ran out of gas.

Sunday Night Preview

You could make a case that there is more on the line that Canadian - American bragging rights. I asked both head coaches if underneath the National flags there was also a sense of American tier I vs Canadian Tier I... some USHL vs BCHL/AJHL/SJHL...

You can hear what they said here.

I also spoke with Canadian players Justin Schultz (ANH-2nd) and Derek Grant (OTT-4th) about the tournament and some player profile type stuff.

Game time is 6 PM and can be seen on TSN 2 with a tape delay later on TSN.

WJAC Update

Last week I boldly precicted that the gold medal game at the 2008 World Junior A Challenge would feature Canada West and Team USA. In response to that prediction both teams fell flat in their opening game and were upset by far weaker opponents.

Two days after Belarus downed Canada West in a shootout it was the Americans who got caught napping and allowed Germany to overcome a 2-0 deficit and skate away with a 5-2 victory.

The Germans actually looked pretty darn good at times although it should be kept in mind that their team is almost all 18 and 19-year-olds... only one player on the roster is draft eligible for the first time this year.

Still, Germany had solid performances from three players in particular, at least in my opinion. #22, Toni Ritter, had a great goal on a nifty slap shot from the side wall that caught the American goalie a bit by surprise. Ritter has nice wheels, good size and played with a bit of a jump.

#23 Steven Rupprich stood out for me today with his tenacity, speed and playmaking. He was creative, not always successful but I like to see players who think outside the box sometimes and he did that. He had 2 helpers.

I also thought David Wolf, #11, was pretty impressive. He too has size and speed to his credit. He didn't impact the scoresheet tonight but I thought he contributed plenty.

The Americans were not all that good, perhaps 4 days of waiting around for their first game was a factor?

Seth Helgeson is a force though; at 6'5 he's easy to pick out of a crowd and he plays pretty tough. John Moore had some good moments too.

I was a bit disappointed that Mike Lee didn't get the nod in goal but assume that it was the token game for Joe Howe and that we'll see the top draft eligible USHL goalie the rest of the way.

The late game saw Canada West take on Russia and it was a wild affair. Russia completely dominated at times during the opening period, had a big lead in shots at one point and carried a 1-0 lead into the second period.

Then things got a little ugly. The scoresheet has Russia taking 10 straight penalties in the middle frame and considering Canada scored 5 power play goals on the night... well you can see where this is going right?

The Russians were completely pissed off at the officiating and in some cases I think they had a right to be. One of Russia's star players, and I assume a favorite of Barry Manilow, Kirill "Copa" Kabanov was hit from behind and left the game early in the 3rd period... no call.

It was a very undisciplined game from both sides at times but much moreso from Russia. Still, there were some standout performances from the visitors too.

#23 Maxim Kitsin was dangerous all night. He's got really good size, speed and hands. Drives to the net, plays tough, sets stuff up and can finish too. He looks really promising already for 2010.

The first goal of the game went to #10 Vladimir Terasenko who dazzled with an individual effort by beating a defenceman one-on-one before lifting the puck passed Canadian goalie Kevin Genoe. Another fast and gritty forward but doesn't have the size that Kitsin or Kabanov have.

Speaking of Kabanov... he's getting a lot of hype for 2010 already, one scout I talked to tongiht suggested he's the best bet if you're looking for someone to push Taylor Hall as the #1 overall pick in 2010. Yet, another NHL scout I checked in with gave Kabanov a big thumbs down for his undisciplined and somewhat selfish play. His brutally late interference after a whistle directly led to Canada's second goal... the eventual winner. As I mentioned, he left the game in the third due to an undisclosed injury but as Millard pointed out, he was so far in the doghouse by that point he might not have played much in the period anyway.

Canada looked awful in the first period but got it going in the second. Boris Rybalka explained how in his postgame discussion with the assembled media.

BCHL goalie Kevin Genoe, a free agent if a WHL team is looking, played very well outside of a bad second goal to Russia. However, in the first when his team needed him the most, Genoe was a wall. Millard and I spoke with him after the game too about the tournament, how he got here and where he hopes the exposure will take him.

Player of the Game for Canada though was 16-year-old Jaden Schwartz. He was drafted by the Tri-City Americans whose GM, Bob Torrey, was in the building tonight and liked what he saw. Dean and I also spoke with the Notre Dame Hound after the game.

More as the week continues...

(PHOTOS COURTESY: LA Media & Hockey Canada)