Carlson's Golden Goal Revisited

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Like most of you, I was glued to the TV on Tuesday night as Canada and the United States battled for the gold medal at the 2010 World Junior Championship in Saskatoon.

Unlike most of you, I missed all of the highlights of the game winner because as soon as it went in, I was bolting out the door. I was watching the game with a few of the other TEAM 1260 personalities at The Shark Club just a few blocks away from the station but had to zip back to the studio because I was working the post game show with Corey Graham. I saw the goal live but didn't realize how remarkable a play it was until the next day.

You might not have any idea what I'm talking about so let me explain:

Disappointing Finn-ish: Country Fine with Players in CHL

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Finland had high hopes of earning a medal at the World Junior Championship after facing relegation and finishing 7th at last year's tournament but those hopes were dashed by the United States Saturday night. Finland will now face Russia for 5th place on Monday.

Finland had 7 returning players on this year's squad including their top line of Teemu Hartikainen (Edm 2008), Toni Rajala (Edm 2009) and Mikael Granlund (eligible 2010). However the trio, along with the entire Finnish offence was underwhelming.

USA WJ Camp Opens Today

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While Canada has wrapped up their WJC camp and named it's 22-man roster, the American squad is opening their first ever 3-day December camp today in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

The 30-man camp features a plethora of talented players including 22 NHL drafted players and 5 others who will be eligible for that distinction for the first time in June of 2010.

But will they be good enough to challenge for a medal let alone contend for the gold?

Competition at Team Canada Camp

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With just 6 returning players, Hockey Canada will have plenty of tough decisions to make as to which players will wear the Maple Leaf and attempt to take home an unprecedented 6th consecutive gold medal.

Hockey Canada has invited 36 players to Regina and all have a legitimate chance at claiming a spot on the team. All except Cody Hodgson who many expected to be named captain of the club. It was announced on Tuesday that Hodgson will not take part in the camp or the tournament itself and head scout Al Murray told listeners of The Pipeline Show on Tuesday that they will not bring in another player to take his camp spot.

One on One: Jared Cowen

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After a a serious knee injury wiped out the second half of his 2008-09 season likely leading to a slight drop at the NHL Draft, Jared Cowen is doing everything he can to prove his real worth.

Spokane was recently in Edmonton to take on the Oil Kings and I had a chance to speak with a few of the players including Cowen, the captain of the Chiefs.

Last year began about as good as he could have hoped for; Cowen was ranked as a top-5 prospect, the top blueliner available from North America and second overall behind only Victor Hedman. He was coming off a Memorial Cup win where, as a 17-year-old, he was one of the best defencemen in the tournament.

The dream season took a hit in December when his name didn't appear on Hockey Canada's invite list for the final World Junior selection camp. In hindsight, you can't really say Hockey Canada made a mistake because they went to Ottawa and captured their 5th straight gold medal. However, Cowen's omission did raise a few eyebrows when the camp list initially came out.

Not being able to partake in the WJC tournament was a negative for a player so highly touted during his draft year. Things went from bad to much worse shortly after the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game when Cowen sustained a knee injury against the Chilliwack Bruins. Cowen suffered "an MCL sprain and a high grade injury to his ACL" and missed the rest of the regular season, the WHL playoffs and he was limited to near-observer status at the NHL combine.

He was still drafted very early in the NHL event but did not go in the top 5 like most predicted he would earlier in the season. Eventually he fell into the lap of the Ottawa Senators in the 9th position who, according to Tim Murray, were expecting to choose a forward. The draft day results received mixed reviews from Cowen who was pleased with who took him but clearly disappointed that his stock did slide a bit because of the inactivity.

"Even though I was injured it was kind of nice to end up going to a Canadian team," Cowen said, "If I hadn't of been injured I think I probably would have gone (earlier) to somewhere in the States but that's fine. Staying in Canada was probably the best thing that could happen so in hindsight it was kind of a good thing to have [the injury] happen."

Off season training took on a different meaning as it wasn't just about knocking off the summer rust but in rehabilitating the knee and preparing for a NHL camp. When the time came, Cowen admits he still wasn't 100%.

"It was a different than what most guys experience because everyone else there was healthy except for me." he said, "Coming back from the ACL injury was doubly hard for me. Your first NHL practice you're just trying to get your legs going and I only had a leg and a half I guess but it was still lots of fun."

Cowen had 21 points at the time of his injury last season. This year he is adding points at a higher rate and currently has 14 through 20 games. The team underwent a few changes over the summer including the loss of sniper Drayson Bowman and starting netminder Dustin Tokarski. When the captain returned to the club from Ottawa's training camp, the team had changed a bit more by adding former arch-rival Kyle Beach to the fold. I asked Cowen how the former Everett Silvertips forward was fitting into the dressing room.

"It's been good. When I came back he was already with the team, [Spokane] had already made the trade, so it was a pretty short adjustment period," the big defenceman smiled, "He's fit in pretty well. He's one of the boys already so it's good. He's a really good player too so he's helped us out in every area that we expected him to."

As for the goaltending situation with the Chiefs, Cowen says he's not at all worried about whether James Reid is up to the task of replacing Tokarski.

"He's really picked it up over the last few games here and was named the CHL Goaltender of the Week," he said, "[Reid's] been playing good and Kyle has been scoring goals so those holes have been filled pretty well so far."

This year the Chiefs can't afford to have players who aren't performing their best every night. The WHL's U.S. Division might be the tightest from top to bottom in the entire league as there really is no weak sister for the others to beat up on. The Seattle Thunderbirds are in the cellar but can't be taken lightly just because their 22 points puts them there. Spokane is in fourth place, just 5 points up on the T-Birds and within spitting distance of second place Portland.

"I think this year its one of the strongest divisions for sure," Cowen agreed, "Tri-Cities is up there again, Portland is having a good year for the first time in a long while so that's a bit of a change. We've got our work cut out for us here but it's a good challenge to have."

Although his focus is clearly on the business at hand, even Cowen admits that he's looking forward to finally getting his shot at Canada's team roster the World Junior Championship.

"Yeah, I've been waiting for a while now, the last couple years, to get on that squad," he said, "I think the biggest thing for me is to try and get my knee feeling as good as possible so that I'm comfortable. First up is the Subway Super Series and then after that... the waiting game."

Somehow I don't think Cowen is going to have to wait long for Al Murray and Hockey Canada to call.

(Photos Courtesy: Hockey Canada, the WHL, NHL.com)

Canada Names 2010 WJC Camp Roster

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Sure it seems like Boxing Day is a long way away but with 7 months until the puck drops in Saskatoon and Regina, Hockey Canada has revealed its 41-skater camp invite list.

There are no goalies on the camp roster as of yet as the pipemen are having their own summer evaluation session. The list of goalies involved in that can be found HERE.

Canada will be watching 17 defenders and 24 forwards in Calgary this August. The complete list of participating players can be found HERE.

There are a number of already drafted players but 16 skaters who are eligible for the 2009 event on June 26-27th as well as one 2010 player. The youngster is Taylor Hall.

16 NHL clubs have a least one player representing them at the camp while 7 of those teams have a pair of players; no one has 3 (yet, that may change after the draft). Calgary, Minnesota, Colorado, Buffalo, Anaheim, Edmonton and New Jersey are the teams with a duo of invited prospects.

There are 9 returning players from Canada's 2009 gold medal winning roster: Ryan Ellis, Alex Pietrangelo, Tyler Myers and Colten Teubert on the back end. Stefan Della Rovere, Patrice Cormier, Jordan Eberle, Evander Kane and Cody Hodgson up front.

There are only four NCAA players invited: Denver Pioneers forward Joe Colborne, Dylan Olsen who will be at Duluth next year, Harvard-bound Louis Leblanc and defenceman Patrick Wiercioch. The DU defender was an invite last year as well. It's not overly surprising to see that there is little NCAA content considering Pat Quinn's comments last December that the collegians were well behind their CHL counterparts in terms of game-ready form at that point of the year.

Who isn't on the list?

How about John Tavares? He's on the list but he doesn't have to attend "in accordance with National Junior Team policy, which allows for two-time members of the National Junior Team to forego camp and remain eligible for IIHF World Junior Championship". Tavares played in 2008 and 2009 so can sit this one out knowing he's already on the squad (if his NHL club lets him go that is).

What do you think? Did Hockey Canada miss anyone you think definitely should have been invited?