Who's up first? Canada will open the world junior hockey championship today against a jacked-up home team, the Czech Republic. The Czechs last struck gold in this tournament in 2001, when they successfully defended their 2000 title.
On the ice Jonathan Bernier, who began the season with the Los Angeles Kings, will start in goal for Canada. But Steve Mason could play against Slovakia tomorrow. The forward lines in practice the past few days were: Kyle Turris between Brad Marchand and Claude Giroux; Brandon Sutter centred Wayne Simmonds and Stefan Legein; centre Steve Stamkos with Matthew Halischuk and Shawn Matthias. The fourth line will consist of Riley Holzapfel, Zach Boychuk and either Colton Gillies or John Tavares. On the blueline, captain Karl Alzner has been nursing a back injury. If he can play today, he'll be paired with Drew Doughty. If not, Josh Godfrey will replace Alzner. The other two pairings are Thomas Hickey beside Luke Schenn, and P.K. Subban with Logan Pyett.
On a roll Three-time defending champion Canada carries an 18-game win streak into the 2008 tournament. The Canadian juniors haven't lost since they were upended 4-3 in the 2004 final by the United States. The speedy and skilled Canadians, once again, are considered a contender for gold, along with the United States, Czech Republic and Russia.
- The Canadians are young and inexperienced, but speedy and can score. As always, a lot will depend on goalies Jonathan Bernier and Steve Mason. It helps that head coach Craig Hartsburg and his staff was in place last year, when Canada was victorious in Leksand, Sweden.
- The Czech Republic did plenty for its confidence when it beat the United States 5-2 in a pretournament game last weekend. Jakub Voracek, a Columbus Blue Jackets prospect who plays for the Halifax Mooseheads, is one of the top juniors playing in Canada.
- Canada has six junior-aged players in the NHL and unavailable for this tournament, but the United States doesn't have the depth as its neighbours to the north. Therefore, the loss of forwards Patrick Kane (Chicago Blackhawks) and Peter Mueller (Phoenix Coyotes) hurts the 2007 bronze medalists more.
- Russia has lost to Canada in the past three world junior finals after beating its rivals for the gold medal in 2002 and 2003. The Russians were horrible against Canada in the eight-game summer Super Series, but rebounded for two wins in a six-game series against all-star teams from the QMJHL, OHL and WHL.
Tourney tidbits Do you believe in omens? Brent Sutter and Clark Gillies played together on the last two New York Islanders teams that won the Stanley Cup in 1981-82 and 1982-83. Sutter's son, Brandon, and Gilles's nephew, Colton, are teammates on this year's Canadian junior team. … Canada has won a medal (three gold, four silver, two bronze) in each of the past nine tournaments. … Canada will play its round-robin games in Pardubice, an industrial city 100 kilometres east of Prague and the hometown of Detroit Red Wings goaltender Dominik Hasek and Edmonton Oilers winger Ales Hemsky. … HC Pardubice is competing at the Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland, while the world junior championship is contested at 9,413-seat Pardubice Arena, built in 1998. HC Pardubice has won four Czech Extraliga championships (1973, 1987, 1989, 2005). Hasek played on the 1987 and 1989 teams.
