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Friday, December 28, 2012

Character Win For Team Canada, Spengler Dominance, More...

7:31 AM Coach K 8 comments

T.G.I.F. HabsAddicts!!!

Team Canada had quite the scare this morning. Team Slovakia came out of the gate with a heavy forecheck, that caused Canada fits, and took an early 2-0 1st period lead.

However, despite loosing forward J.C. Lipon in the first because of a contact to the head major penalty, the Canadian squad came out firing on all cylinders in the second.

As the game wore on, the Slovakians began to wear down. Only a controversial charging major to Anthony Camara gave the Slovaks some momentum, but Morgan Rielly led the charge for the Canadian team, with a few brilliant shift to to get the ball rolling. He finished with a goal and two assists.

Team Canada dominated the last 40 minutes of play, using their speed and physicality to turn the tables on their tenacious opponents. After taking a late 4-3 lead in the second, they added two more tallies in the third to win the game 6-3. Mark Scheifele was all over the ice for Canada, which earned him player of the game honours.

Next, Team Canada faces Team USA at 4 A.M. Sunday morning. The question is if the IIHF disciplinary board will give suspensions to either Lipon and/or Camara. The board is chaired by former NHL referee Bill McCreary.

Habs and Hockey News and Notes:

- Over in Davos, Switzerland, the other Team Canada had another dominant performance in Spengler Cup action, this time versus the host Davos. Byron Ritchie led Team Canada with two goals, en route to a 5-0 victory. Devon Dubnyk stopped 25 shots to earn the shutout.

- Team USA started their World Junior Hockey Championships with a resounding 8-0 victory over Germany. Montreal Canadiens' 2012 first round pick, Alex Galchenyuk had a goal and two assists.

- Barry Janoff of NYSportsJournalism.com looks at how the NHL Lockout is causing fans and sponsors to lash out.

Canada hammers Germans, RNH with 5 Points

7:19 AM Coach K No comments

Good Morning PuckAddicts!!!

In one of the most anticipated games in World Junior Hockey Championship history (thanks NHL Lockout), Team Canada exploded for nine tallies versus a sub-par German team in their opening game in this year's tournament.

Edmonton Oilers sophomore Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a goal and four assists, while his line mates Jonathan Huberdeau and Mark Scheifele combined for 10 points. Malcolm Subban went mostly untested in this affair, however he did give up a bit of a softy on a horrible turnover by Mark McNeil in the second period. He bounced back beautifully in the third, making a couple of point blank saves.

Canada continued their undisciplined play in the first two periods with a parade of unnecessary penalties, putting behind the eight ball early, and allowing the Germans to stay hopeful. However, Canada dominated to majority of the game, often maintaining possession of the puck in the German zone for three to four minutes at a time.

Canadian head coach Steve Spott, while happy with the result, should be apprehensive about his team's defensive zone play. Scott Harrington and Dougie Hamilton were solid on the Canadian defense, but Team Canada was often hemmed in by a tenacious German team, who were more lucky than good on all three of their goals. The fourth line for Team Canada showed an obvious deficiency in transitional play, giving up the puck multiple times along the half-wall, leading the German scoring chances.

Another obvious weakness in Canada's game was their lack of a defensive presence in the mid-ice lane. They allowed the Germans to attack with speed through the neutral zone on numerous occasions, forcing some over extended shift and mistakes in their own zone.

Team Canada's next test comes Friday morning against Team Slovakia.

Special Correspondant in Ufa

HabsAddict is happy to welcome Robert Myerson to our staff. Rob will be covering the World Junior Championship from Ufa, Russia after the Slovakia game, and providing our readers same day game summaries and analysis. Join me in welcoming Robert aboard.

(Photo courtesy Canadian Press)

Alex Galchenyuk Will Get Nine-Game Look With Montreal Canadiens

7:08 AM Amos Legault 4 comments

Alex Galchenyuk's first moments as a Canadien

Greetings addicts!

As October takes its sweet time in arriving, there's more than enough question marks surrounding the Montreal Canadiens.

Most interesting to me is Alex Galchenyuk and what his immediate future holds. After all, when was the last time we had such a highly touted prospect in the system?

Let's just say I wasn't a Habs fan yet.

The "Nine-Game Look"

It's too early to tell if he will be the first draft choice in decades to make the jump to the Habs right away—Petr Svoboda being the last to do so in 1984—but my money is on Galchenyuk getting the nine-game look.

What is the nine-game look? Well, the NHL has a rule that a rookie player can play nine games in the league without it taking a full year off of their rookie status.

In other words, they can still be sent down after those nine games, come up the following year and still be a rookie.

When it comes to the Habs, it could be argued that their second and third lines would do well to play with familiarity players, or that nine games with the big club could negatively effect Gally's confidence.

But these shouldn't be things to worry about.

For the sake of Michel Therrien's head, I hope a good start to the season is in store, but fans will need to exercise some serious patients this time around.

In regards to confidence, well, just look at Mark Scheifele's rookie preseason with the Winnipeg Jets last year. He led the team in scoring with four goals and eight points in five games. Only Mike Ribeiro had more preseason points in the NHL. The Jets then gave him the nine games, where he showed to be lacking a bit of strength.

He was excellent against rookie-laden teams, but didn't learn much about himself until those nine games. Overall, though, it was a wholly positive experience for Scheifele.

Getting Back On His Knee

Unless he falls flat on his face, Gally should start the regular season a Hab for the same reasons Scheifele did. To find out where he's rusty and to really feel where his surgically repaired knee is at.

As former teammate Nail Yakupov will likely join the Edmonton Oilers from the get-go, there is a serious confidence boost to be had for Gally with a full year as the Sarnia Sting's top player—if not the OHL's top player.

That being said, one simply cannot rule out the possibility of him sticking with the team for good after those nine games.

Galchenyuk is a kid with an astonishingly complete game for his age. The only possible thing that could be called a weakness is his physical game, which isn't an essential asset if you do everything else well.

It is my opinion that if this...

...didn't happen, I may not even be writing about him right now.

Someone in Edmonton would be.

What do you guys think about the nine-game look? Are you nervous about the right thing being done to secure his full potential? If Gally maintains as complete a game as he's shown in the past and it translates to the NHL, should he still return to Sarnia for a season? Do you feel he needs to be more physical to be a No. 1 pivot in the NHL?

Let's hear it!

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Amos is freelance writer and columnist who covers prospects for HabsAddict.com. He also covers the Habs for RantSports.com. Follow Amos on Twitter and Facebook

(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images North America)