Canadian Team Prepares For World Junior Tournament

By Brad Coccimiglio
Once again the Canadian Hockey League will play a big part in the success/failure of the Canadian entry in the World Junior Hockey Championships. The selection camp is set for Dec. 13-18 at the Beatrice Ice Gardens in North York, Ontario.

31 of the 34 players that were originally selected were from CHL teams. Out of the 34 players, 22 will be selected to represent Canada at the 2001 World Junior Tournament in Russia.

Seven of the CHL players selected were members of Canada’s bronze medal winning team from the 2000 tournament. One player, Brian Finley of the Barrie Colts, was a member of the silver medal winning team from the 1999 tournament in Winnipeg. Finley will be unable to play in the tournament though due to the fact that he re-aggravated a groin injury.

At this years tournament the Canadian team will be looking for some form of redemption after falling short of the gold medal the last 2 years. The Canadian entry has not won a gold medal at the World Junior Tournament since 1997.

In goal, with Finley out of the fold, the starting job is Maxime Oullet’s to lose. Oullet will likely be the starter throughout the tournament. Rob Zepp, Pascal Leclaire and Alex Auld would all make capable backups for Oullet. The Canadian goaltending will be a strong point as it almost always is.

With 3 players returning the defence is shaping up to be solid. Steve McCarthy, Jay Bouwmeester and Barret Jackman will anchor this years defensive corps. There will be a great deal of size on the Team Canada blueline no matter who ends up being selected. Every defenseman at the selection camp is over 6’00 190 lbs. There could be up to 4 undrafted defencemen on the roster this year. Mark Popovic of Toronto St. Michael’s (2001), Jay Harrison of the Brampton Battalion (2001), Dan Hanhuis of Prince George (2001) and Jay Bouwmeester of Medicine Hat (2002) are all draft eligible in the next 2 years.

Offense should be a strong point on this years team. Despite not having players like Mike Comrie (age restriction) and Brad Richards (NHL) many of the players in camp are more than capable of filling in. Players back from last year’s team include Dany Heatley, Jamie Lundmark, Brandon Reid and Jason Spezza. Nathan Smith was added to the Selection Camp roster after it was announced that Brian Sutherby could not attend due to surgery.

Here is a look at the entire roster (with vitals, team, hometown, etc.) including Sutherby and Finley who are not attending: 

Goaltenders
Player           S  Ht.     Wt.  Birthdate  Hometown          2000-2001 Team        Drafted
Alex Auld        L  6'03.5  198  01/07/81   Thunder Bay, On   North Bay (OHL)       FLA 99
Brian Finley     R  6'02    180  07/03/81   Sault, On         Barrie (OHL)          NA 99
Pascal Leclaire  L  6'01.5  180  11/07/82   Repentigny, Qc    Halifax (QMJHL)       Eligible 01
Maxime Ouellet   L  6'01.5  199  06/17/81   Beauport, Qc.     Rouyn-Noranda (QMJHL) PHA 99
Rob Zepp         L  6'00.5  185  09/07/81   Newmarket, On     Plymouth (OHL)        ATL 99

Defence
Player           S  Ht.     Wt.  Birthdate  Hometown          2000-2001 Team  	    Drafted
Antoine Bergeron L  6'02    200  12/14/81   Valcourt, Qc      Val D'Or (QMJHL)      STL 00
Jay Bouwmeester  L  6'03.5  208  09/27/83   Edmonton, Ab      Medicine Hat (WHL)    Eligible 02
Garnet Exelby    L  6'02    210  08/16/81   Ste. Ann, Mb      Saskatoon (WHL)       ATL 99
Kurtis Foster    R  6'04.5  211  11/24/81   Carp, On          Peterborough (OHL)    CAL 00
Dan Hamhuis      L  6'00.5  193  12/13/82   Smithers, BC      Prince George (WHL)   Eligible 01
Jay Harrison     L  6'03    204  11/03/82   Whitby, On        Brampton (OHL)        Eligible 01
Barret Jackman   L  6'01    200  03/05/81   Kamloops, BC      Regina (WHL)          STL 99
Mark Popovic     L  6'01.5  190  10/11/82   Stoney Creek, On  St. Mike's (OHL)      Eligible 01
Nick Schultz     L  6'01    195  08/25/82   Strasbourg, Sk    Prince Albert (WHL)   MIN 00
Luke Sellars     L  6'01    204  05/21/81   Pickering, On     Ottawa (OHL)          ATL 99
Jonathan Zion    L  6'00    200  05/21/81   Nepean, On        Ottawa (OHL)          TOR 99
Steve McCarthy   R  6'00    205  02/03/21   Trail, BC         Chicago (NHL)         CHI 99

Forwards
Player           S  Ht.     Wt.  Birthdate  Hometown          2000-2001 Team        Drafted
Kris Beech       L  6'02    190  02/05/81   Sicamous, BC      Calgary (WHL)         WSH 99
Brad Boyes       R  6'00    180  04/17/82   Mississauga, On   Erie (OHL)            TOR 00
Mike Cammalleri  L  5'08.5  175  06/08/82   Toronto, On       Michigan (CCHA)       Eligible 01
Alexandre Giroux L  6'03    190  06/16/81   Quebec City, Qc   Hull (QMJHL)          OTT 99
Dany Heatley     L  6'02.5  205  01/21/81   Calgary, Ab       Wisconsin (WCHA)      ATL 00
Jason Jaspers    L  5'11    183  04/08/81   Thunder Bay, On   Sudbury (OHL)         PHO 99
Krys Kolanos     R  6'02    180  07/27/81   Calgary, Ab       Boston College (HE)   PHO 00
Jamie Lundmark   R  6'00    185  01/16/81   Edmonton, Ab      Seattle (WHL)         NYR 99
Derek MacKenzie  L  5'10    178  06/11/81   Richmond Hill, On Sudbury (OHL)         ATL 99
David Morisset   R  6'01.5  203  04/06/81   Langley, BC       Seattle (WHL)         STL 00
Steve Ott        L  6'00    180  08/19/82   Stoney Point, On  Windsor (OHL)         DAL 00
Brandon Reid     R  5'09    170  03/09/81   Kirkland, Qc      Val D'Or (QMJHL)      VAN 00
Jason Spezza     R  6'02    210  06/13/83   Brampton, On      Windsor (OHL)         Eligible 01
Jarret Stoll     R  6'01    198  06/24/82   Yorkton, Sk       Kootenay (WHL)        CAL 00
Brian Sutherby   L  6'02    190  03/01/82   Edmonton, Ab      Moose Jaw (WHL)       WSH 00
Raffi Torres     L  5'11.5  210  10/08/81   Markham, On       Brampton (OHL)        NYI 00
Stephen Weiss    L  6'00    175  04/03/83   Markham, On       Plymouth (OHL)        Eligible 01
Mike Zigomanis   R  6'01    193  01/17/81   Scarborough, On   Kingston (OHL)        BUF 99
Nathan Smith     L  6'01    180  02/09/82   Strathcona, Ab    Swift Current (WHL)   VAN 00

Coaching Staff
Stan Butler, Head Coach--Brampton Battalion
Kevin Dickie, Assistant Coach--Saskatoon Blades
Mike Kelly, Assistant Coach--North Bay Centennials
Greg Mayer, Equipment Manager--Moose Jaw Warriors
Dr. Michael Nicholls, Team Physian--Regina Pats
Judging by the mix of size and speed of the players that are going into camp this year’s Canadian entry could be one of the better entries that Canada has sent to the World Junior Tournament in the past few years.