The final roster for Canada’s National Junior Team was announced on the weekend and of the 22 players on the team, 21 of them are Canadian Hockey League players. The breakdown of Team Canada: 10 players are from the Western Hockey League, nine players are from the Ontario Hockey League, two players are from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and there is one player from the U.S. college ranks.
The World Junior Hockey Championship will be held from Dec. 25, 2001 to January 4, 2002 in the Czech Republic. Numerous other CHL import players are also participating in the event on teams from other countries.
All of Team Canada’s games from the World Junior Hockey Championship will be broadcast live on TSN. Team Canada plays two exhibition games, Dec. 20 (against Liberec, a Czech Republic Division 1 team) and on Dec. 22 (against Finland), before opening the World Junior Hockey Championship tournament Christmas Day against France.
You can also follow the exploits of Team Canada at www.canadianhockey.ca, which will contain up to date information on the WJHC throughout the event.
WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE
There are no games in the WHL on Thursday night.
On Wednesday night in the WHL, Kamloops (6) edged Seattle 6-5, Prince Albert stopped Kelowna 3-2, Saskatoon and Regina played to a 1-1 tie and Brandon edged Moose Jaw 2-1.
At Kamloops, Keegan McAvoy scored a pair of goals for the winners, including the game-winner, before 5,201 fans. Aaron Bader added a pair of goals for Seattle, which out-shot Kamloops 26-21. At Prince Albert, Paul Deniset scored the game-winning goal at 8:48 of the third period to give the home side the win. Jon Kress added one goal and one assist to the Prince Albert attack while Ryan Cuthbert had one goal and one assist for the losers. Thomas Vicars was outstanding in goal for Prince Albert, making 52 saves while Shane Bendera made his debut in goal for Kelowna.
At Saskatoon, Regina’s Matt Hubbauer and Saskatoon’s Trent Adamus exchanged first period goals in the tie. Chad Davidson made 29 saves in the Regina goal while Michael Garnett stopped 26 shots for the Blades. At Brandon, Jordin Tootoo scored the game-winning goal in the third period to spark the Wheat Kings, who out-shot the visitors 43-19. Kyle Kettles made 41 saves for Moose Jaw to keep the game close.
ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE
There are five games on the OHL’s Thursday night schedule. Owen Sound is in Barrie (5), Sault Ste. Marie (7) is at Brampton, Kingston plays in Peterborough, Oshawa travels to Toronto St. Michael’s and London plays at Windsor.
On Wednesday night in the OHL, Peterborough edged Belleville 4-3, Erie doubled Mississauga 4-2 and Sault Ste. Marie(7) blanked Owen Sound 6-0.
At Belleville, Greg Chambers scored twice and added one assist to lead the Petes past the Bulls. He also scored the game-winning goal, breaking a 3-3 tie, at 14:30 of the third period. OHL scoring leader Nathan Robinson had one goal and one assist for Belleville, while Mike Renzi picked up a pair of assists.
At Erie, Cory Pecker had one goal and two assists while Chris Berti and Chris Eade both had one goal and one assist, to lead the Otters past the Ice Dogs. Matt Passfield had one goal and one assist for the losers while Adam Munro made 30 saves in the Erie goal.
At Owen Sound, Ray Emery made 36 saves to post the shutout in the Greyhounds victory. Jeff Richards had one goal and three assists for the winners while Mike Nelson scored twice and added one assist.
QUEBEC MAJOR JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
There are two games in the QMJHL on Thursday night. Montreal travels to Val-d’Or while Chicoutimi plays in Victoriaville.
On Wednesday night in the QMJHL, Halifax and Montreal played to a 3-3 tie, Rouyn-Noranda defeated Cape Breton 7-3, Baie-Comeau upset Acadie-Bathurst (1) 4-1 and Quebec got by Rimouski 3-2.
At Montreal, Michael Lambert and Jerome Bergeron both had one goal and two assists to lead the Rocket, while Jonathan Cayer made 39 saves. Halifax out-shot Montreal 42-19, with Dany Dallaire making 16 saves in the Mooseheads goal.
At Rouyn-Noranda, Marc-Andre Binette had two goals and one assist while Sebastien Lapierre added one goal and two assists for the Huskies. Mathieu Poitras made 32 saves for the winners, while Stephen Dixon had one goal and one assist for Cape Breton.
At Baie-Comeau, Benoit Mondou had two goals and one assist while Charles Linglet added one goal and one assist for the winners. Ghyslain Rousseau only had to make 11 saves for Baie-Comeau in goal, with only Jonathan Ferland managing to score for the number one ranked Titan.
At Quebec, Sebastien Thinel had one goal and one assist for the Remparts while Michel Ouellet added one goal and one assist for Rimouski. Kevin Lachance made 39 saves in goal for Quebec while Eric Salvail made 37 saves for the losers.
For complete QMJHL summaries, statistics and standings, visit the official QMJHL website.
