Portland, Spokane brawl via Youtube

There was a lone WHL game on the calendar Monday, a U.S. Division battle on Martin Luther King Day that saw Spokane score a rare victory at Portland's Veterans Memorial Coliseum, defeating a red-hot Winterhawks squad 5-2.

Rarely have the Winterhawks lost this season, and rarely have they been outplayed so decisively, with Spokane holding the edge on shots on goals even through the third period when Portland's guns failed to generate any sort of pressure on Spokane goaltender Eric Williams.

Naturally, frustrations boiled over and resulted in three separate fights with :33 seconds to go in the game after Spokane's Todd Fiddler scored an empty net goal with under a minute to go to ice it. Portland's Joe Mahon, owner of 81 penalty minutes coming into the contest, snow-showered Williams after a routine stoppage, triggering a six-man brawl:

Ryan Strome has 62 points in 32 OHL games this season (OHL Images)

Evidently, the New York Islanders don't want to make the same mistake with Ryan Strome as they did with Nino Niederreiter. Niederreiter was also a No. 5 pick in the draft to New York, and after scoring 41 goals in 55 games with Portland and getting nine games of experience in the National Hockey League in 2010-11, the franchise decided to keep him aboard for the 2011-12 season rather than sending him back to junior for another year.

Niederreiter's season could not have gone worse. He played just 55 games, scoring a single goal and missing time due to a groin injury and a concussion. He was plagued by bad shooting luck, which kept his point totals remarkably low for such a highly-touted rookie.

Thursday, in quite surprising fashion, the Islanders sent Strome back to the Niagara IceDogs, despite scoring 22 goals in 32 games this season. He's also played with the IceDogs in two deep playoff runs and has two years experience on Canada's National U-20 team. That's not good enough to make a team that was 25th in both wins and goals scored last season.

Patrik Bartosak (CP)No. 1 Star - Patrik Bartosak, Red Deer Rebels (WHL)

Tonight's feature game on Sportsnet pit the Red Deer Rebels against the Memorial Cup host Saskatoon Blades. The show was taken over by starting goalie for the Czech Republic at the IIHF U-20s, Patrik Bartosak, in his second game back from Ufa. Bartosak made 37 stops on 38 saves, several of the highlight-reel quality, including a late-game stop on Blades' forward Josh Nicholls moving from across his crease to stone the potential 3-2 goal at the doorstep. Bartosak was named the game's first star and Red Deer held on for a 3-1 win.

The Rebels' other Czech import, Dominik Volek, opened the scoring in the first period. Winnipeg-select Lukas Sutter nearly tied it on a two-on-one later in the period, sneaking a shot through Bartosak's chicken wing but it bounced off the post. Russian goaltender Andrei Makarov had a rough stretch in the second period, allowing goals to Rhyse Dieno and Turner Elson in quick succession.

The Rebels' road victory ends a small two-game losing streak, as they improve to 14-9 since Brent Sutter took over the club in November.

No. 2 Star - Max Domi, London Knights (OHL)

It was a 17-year old showcase for the London Knights in a night when goaltender Anthony Stolarz made his anticipated Knights debut. The Flyers pick surrendered 5 goals on 38 shots, but it hardly mattered. Max Domi scored two goals and added three assists. Bo Horvat and Remi Elie each had a goal and an assist, while Kyle Platzer had two assists on his own. Credit to Brandon Sudeyko for pointing it out, the '95s combined for four goals and seven assists as the Knights put up a 10-spot on the Ottawa 67s.

The Knights continue to roll. They're the best team in the OHL by a long-shot, 19 points ahead of 2nd place Owen Sound (although the Attack have two games in hand) and they haven't lost in regulation since the beginning of November, a 28-game streak. They're finding offence in all avenues, which helps if your new goaltender gives up five.

No. 3 Star - Matthew Boudreau, Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL)

Meanwhile, the feature game in the QMJHL saw Halifax face Blainville-Boisbriand, a battle between the No. 1 and No. 5 place teams in the Q, on a night that saw the return of the Mooseheads' stars to their lineup. However, Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin were both held scoreless, Drouin, as well as Martin Frk, had a single assist.

Steve Spott (The Canadian Press)

"I want to be a team that can skate" Team Canada head coach Steve Spott said after the world junior roster was named back in mid-December. "We'll outskate them," conferred head scout Kevin Prendergast.

"That's what we'll do."

It seems fairly simplistic, but hockey is a fast sport played on ice. Being able to skate, both forwards and backwards, is an important aspect of the game. By reading those two quotes, it sounded like Canada was willing to let its players be offensive.

If there was a defining play, however, of Canada's bronze medal loss to Russia at the world junior championship last Saturday, it had nothing to do with the legs of Canadian teenagers being tired and unable to skate or lacking ability. It was strategy. Midway through the third period of a 4-4 tie, Nathan MacKinnon was out taking a face-off in his defensive end, which he won. The Canadians moved the puck out to centre and linemate Phillip Danault, flanking MacKinnon, dumped the puck into the Russian end.

But MacKinnon held up at the blue line and Danault was the only Canadian going in to the zone to retrieve the puck. The Russians got possession and the dump-in was just as effective as a punt in football. The Russians didn't recover the puck and immediately score, but they did waste an opportunity where MacKinnon, noted to be the fastest skater Team Canada had in its camp, could have done so much more.

Canucks prospect Frank Corrado was a late cut of Team Canada (OHL Images)

Two days before the Ontario Hockey League trade deadline, the Kitchener Rangers kept even in the Western Conference arms race with the Owen Sound Attack, adding a high-profile defenceman and a power forward to their core.

Josh Leivo, a 2011 3rd round selection of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Frank Corrado, a 5th round selection of the Vancouver Canucks that same season, are moving from the Sudbury Wolves to Kitchener and the ultra-competitive Western Conference along with goaltender Joel Vienneau. The Rangers are tied with Guelph for 4th spot and they play the Storm tonight in the lone game on the schedule.

In return, Kitchener will sent Matt Schmalz, Frank Palazzese, and Cory Genovese. Schmalz was the Rangers' 1st round pick in the 2012 OHL Draft, a 6'5" 186 lb winger from Dunnville. Palazzese is one of the top goaltenders in the OHL, and Genovese is an 18-year old draft-eligible defenceman from Hespeler who has one and a half seasons of experience.

In the deal, the Rangers send

Mark Scheifele has arguably been Canada's best through four games (CP)So it's settled, then. Canada will face off against the Americans in the semifinal of the 2013 IIHF U-20 world championships, as the final four teams remain are the four tournament favourites for the first time since 2008. Russia and Sweden will play on the other side of the bracket.

How has Canada fared so far? Other than the game against the Russians, which was an excellent performance up and down the linkup, the Canadian group looked fairly average against Germany, Slovakia and the United States. The team put themselves in a position with bad penalties to survive a scare against the Slovaks, a team against which the score shouldn't be in doubt going into the third period, and Canada was out-shot, out-chanced and out-played against the United States, banking on a strong performance from goaltender Malcolm Subban to seal the 2-1 victory.

[Canada's stats pages from the IIHF website - rank amongst teams, and individuals]

I have a few thoughts below on the top Canadian players. As an analyst who works more on performance rather than production, I don't want to make this about which Canadians have scored the most goals at this tournament. One of Canada's top overall forwards, Mark McNeill, as an example, does not yet have a goal or a point, but he's been instrumental on the penalty kill and moving the puck north. His eight shots on net are as much as Jonathan Huberdeau, but he's been stopped on all eight opportunities. Conversely, Ryan Strome is tied for the team lead with four goals, but that doesn't make him Canada's best offensive player, as he's been the beneficiary of some puck luck that has aided to a 36.3 per cent shooting rate. Remember, high shooting percentages are hardly sustainable.

Canada's best thus far: Mark Scheifele

Schiefele has been a dominant force for this team for reasons beyond his scoring prowess, or his, er, loose interpretation of the rulebook in the game against Slovakia. If we learned anything from the "Lockout Line" being split up against Team Russia, it's that Jonathan Huberdeau wasn't instrumental in the success of that unit against the Americans. With Jonathan Drouin playing up with Nugent-Hopkins and Scheifele, the line lost its name, but was just as dangerous. The line that combined for seven shots against the Americans combined for ten against the Russians.

Nikita Kucherov's game-winning shootout goal (CP)

No. 1 star - Nikita Kucherov, Team Russia

It was unthinkable that the Russians would be forced to a shootout by the Swiss. It's even more unthinkable that after having watched Nikita Kucherov and Mikhail Grigorenko as Russia's best two-man unit that Patrick Roy isn't kicking himself having dealt Kucherov away from the Quebec Remparts in November. Both players were instrumental in Russia's 4-3 shootout win over the Swiss to advance to the semifinals.

Grigorenko had been dangerous all tournament, Russia's shot leader with 18 coming into the game but without a single goal to show for it. That changed in the second period with a backhand goal from the slot, but Kucherov was the real star of this one. Kucherov, the Tampa Bay Lightning second rounder, tied the game with 1:39 to go from the side of the net, and had the shootout winner in the fifth round.

The Buffalo Sabres' first rounder Grigorenko was named Russia's player of the game with a goal, an assist, five shots and going 16-11 on draws. Kucherov looked like the more dangerous offensive talent, despite just three shots, he assisted on Grigorenko's goal and also had a breakaway in the first period that was broken up very well by Swiss defenceman Eliot Antonietti.

Depth has become a severe issue for the Russians. Despite having a very talented group of players, only the line of Grigorenko, Kucherov and Anton Slepyshev has been able to consistently work the puck against the opposition. Nail Yakupov, the No. 1 overall pick in June, certainly had his chances, but he only has one goal on the tournament, and was also involved in the mix-up that led to a Swiss shorthanded goal early in the game. The second and third lines for Russia are going to have to play better, elsewise the Russians may not have much luck in advancing versus Sweden tomorrow.

Sarnia Sting rookie Nikolay Goldobin (Terry Wilson, OHL Images)

It appears as if the Sarnia Sting have found a replacement for Alex Galchenyuk should the young gun indeed join the Montreal Canadiens if and when National Hockey League training camps open. Nikolay Goldobin came into the game with 14 goals and 28 points in 37 games as a late 1995-born talent. He also may have beat the London Knights single-handedly tonight, handing London their first loss since November 1.

The Knights came one game shy of tying the 1984 Kitchener Rangers' win streak of 25 games, losing in overtime on the heels of Goldobin's four-goal performance, in what sounded like an absolute thriller at Budweiser Gardens by Knights broadcaster Mike Stubbs.

Despite having lost two top defencemen Scott Harrington and Olli Määttä to the World Junior tournament, London continued to reel off wins after IIHF camps opened. Perhaps you could say that London was due for a defeat after seeing so many one-goal wins after December 9th—since they they beat Owen Sound 3-2, Guelph 4-3, Kingston 6-5, and the Sting in a 3-2 thriller on New Year's Eve.

Last night after going down 2-0 early in the third period, the Knights got goals from Alex Broadhurst and two from Bo Horvat to take the lead before the period was halfway through, and would hold onto the win. That put the Knights win streak at 24, one shy of the Ontario Hockey League record.