the exhibition games started yesterday with the real
games starting on the 26th.
will canada repeat? can the us win for the 2nd time in 3 years?
should be a good tourney in vancouver.

i like the usa's chances this year

The US team has a lot more experience... kind of like what the Canadians had last year. It's a shame that some of the top Canadians aren't there (just the fact that Crosby is still eligible kind of sucks) but they seem to have put together a good team.

2-1 win over the Czech team in exhibition yesterday.

canada-sucks for them that crosby wont be playing this year.
it sounds like dubnyk will be canada's #1 goalie.
is that right?

russia is missing ovechkin and possibly malkin...?
i heard malkin may not play, but radulov is incredible.

fortunately for the us, everyone will be playing.
kessel had a great tourny last year as 17 year old,
and should be one of our top players again this year.
he will probably be the #1 overall pick in next years draft

Justin Pogge is expected to be the #1 goalie for Canada with Dubnyk backing up. The media has been raving about Jonathan Toews (pronounced Taves), a 17 year old Canadian who's a freshman at North Dakota. There's even some speculation that with a good tournament he might pass Kessel as the #1 prospect for the 2006 draft.

Also on team Canada, keep an eye out on Guillaume Latendresse. He came within an inch of cracking the Montreal lineup out of training camp as an 18 year old, which hasn't happened since 1984. He cites Bertuzzi as the player who he models his game after (I'm assuming minus certain criminal incidents).

I agree that Canada will be in tough to repeat. Hopefully the home ice gives the kids a bit of an edge. I'm looking forward to it though. The World Juniors are always some of the best hockey of the year.

According to ESPN Malkin has said he will be playing in the WJC. He's also expected to be named to the Olympic team. The Czech Republic will also have a strong team.

yes, toews is good,
i went to grand forks, nd a couple weeks ago
and watched minnesota beat north dakota 2 straight nites.
kessel and toews both looked really good.

is pogge better than dubnyk?
i wouldve thought that pogge would be the backup.

should be a fun 2 weeks.

pogge wasn't invited to the summer training camp but he played his way onto the team by going 22-5 with 6 shutouts for Calgary and has the best GAA and save % in the WHL.

i'm excited, this is some of the best hockey to watch.

And he just signed with the Leafs.

thanks,
i admit, i dont know much about him except that his
stats are excellent for the hitmen

Anyone know if they plan on televise this in the US?

some games will be on in the us.
fox sports net north (minneapolis) will show the game against
canada, the semi final game, and the medal round game.
(all games are tape delayed)
some other fsn networks may pick up some games too from the
fsnn feed.

if you have the nhl center ice package then you will see all
games except the switzerland game (also tape delayed)
i am hoping to catch a few of canada's game on the center ice
pack too. havent heard which of their games will be on.

this is arguably the most talent the us team has ever put together on
a world junior roster. hopefully they will do well and get some
positive press so more people will find out about the world jrs.
its a great event, and unfortunately not too many people in
the states even know about it.

That's great, I have the Center Ice package. I was hoping it would be on, but wasn't sure.

So the Canadians finished the round robin 4-0 with a win over the Americans today (which was basically a tie because the US pulled their goalie to try to get the extra point.)

As the empty net goal was scored, American defenceman Jack Johnson gave Steve Downie a big elbow to the jaw 20 feet away from the play. It was really frustrating to hear that there won't be a suspension, especially since the refereeing has been so tight.

bump for the medal games today.

So the Americans were supposed to win and they finished 4th.

The Canadians weren't expected to medal and the got gold.

Go Canada Go!

That sucks about that goal that Russia scored, and didn't count. I hate to see the game end in controversey

Before the game, Gretzky, in an interview, predicted that that Canada would win 4-1.

(all the more so if you include the Russian goal that didn't count!)

He also said the Steve Downie would score the winning goal... which he did.

I'm just glad it ended in a blowout. If it had ended a 1 or 2 goal game, that goal would make a huge difference.

The US really didn't play as a team, they took a lot of stupid penalties too. They were a much more cohesive unit last year. I wasn't too impressed with Kessel, I thought he played better last year. They were talking about what a great one on one player he is, but he uses two moves; inside out and outside in. They did work for the most part, but I can't imagine them working the NHL more than a couple times. I wish the would have televised the non-US games in the US.

Those fans made it pretty tough for the US to win too. I wish US hockey fans were half as passionate as Canadian fans.