Kitchener's Matt Puempel hasn't played since November 27 (Getty)After two weeks of intense speculation, Team Canada released its 37-man selection camp roster Monday afternoon. On a conference call, Steve Spott repeatedly called the team "the most difficult to make" particularly in a National Hockey League lockout season. A number of players who probably would have got the call any other year were left off the invite roster, and a couple of them will probably make it next season.

[Earlier: Hockey Canada names selection camp roster for world junior championship]

Two notable omissions were in goal. Zachary Fucale and Eric Comrie both played well in their Subway Series half games and there was a theory that Team Canada may have brought either underage, draft-eligible goaltender over to Russia as a reserve to gain valuable experience for next year, but Canada instead opted for three OHL goaltenders (Jordan Binnington, Jake Paterson, and projected starter Malcolm Subban) along with the Edmonton Oil Kings' Laurent Brossoit.

Spott suggested that bringing an underage goalie to the tournament was "something we talked about early" but in the end age didn't factor into any of the decisions. He did suggest that Fucale's "opportunity will come next year" and that the four goaltenders they're bringing "are at the top of their game."

(CP Images)A pair of separate studies seem to point out that the effects of checking and collisions in various levels of hockey lead to, surprise surprise, more injuries than previously thought.

The first study, which I think is a little more complete, was a joint study between researchers at the University of Laval and the University of Calgary (due to recent football results, I'll refer to this as the 'Laval' study). They followed 150 minor hockey teams featuring peewee players ages 11 and 12 and compared the health effects on players in Alberta, where checking is allowed at that level, versus Québec, where it is not.

The players from Quebec walked away with one-third the number of injuries as the players in Alberta, and they also sustained fewer concussions: 73 Albertans over the period of a year, to just 20 Québecois kids. Going further, 14 concussions were listed as "severe" in Alberta to just four in Québec.

"We know that the long-term effects on concussions were underestimated in the past.

(via sportslogos.net)It appears Dean Millard's multiple sources were correct from earlier this month concerning recruitment violations on the part of the Portland Winterhawks. The Western Hockey League came down hard on the U.S. Division club Wednesday for "a series of player benefit violations which have occurred over the past four seasons"

The Winterhawks will lose nine draft picks, including five first-rounders. Coach-GM Mike Johnston has been suspended for the balance of the 2012-2013 season and playoffs.

On top of that, they were fined $200,000.

Suffice to say, the WHL found something they didn't like taking place in Portland, and hammered them for it:

"All WHL Clubs understand they are required to fully comply and respect our League Regulations or they will face significant consequences," stated WHL Commissioner Ron Robison.  "WHL Clubs are required to fully disclose all commitments they make to a player in the WHL Standard Player Agreement.  Our independent investigation in this case revealed there were multiple violations over an extended period for player benefits that are not permitted under WHL Regulations and were not disclosed to the WHL.  It should also be noted through the course of the investigation there was no evidence of any payments or enhanced education benefits provided to players that would be contrary to WHL Regulations as previous media reports indicated."

So, there's that. Considering the WHL released in its statement saying that the player benefit violations took place over four years, it would be tough to pin this penalty on their recruitment of one player. The Winterhawks are one of the "have" teams in the WHL, having gone to the WHL Championship series two consecutive seasons. Of course, assuming Portland is the only team in the league that sees success off of bending the rules to their advantage is absurd.

Acadie-Bathurst Titan right wing Zach O'BrienOne of our favourite Québec hockey fans called Leo-Guy Morissette a cross between Al Davis and Jeffrey Loria, which isn't exactly a ringing endorsement for the owner-slash-general manager of the QMJHL's Acadie-Bathurst Titan. The team is still coach-less after firing Éric Dubois Sunday, and were apparently without a plan for succession. Here's where it gets weird:

As it turns out, according to TVA Sports' Mikaël Lalancette, six assistant coaches from around the league have refused the opening. At least two coaches from outside the Q have also turned down the gig: Paulin Bordeleau, a midget-AAA coach for Esther-Blondin, reportedly turned down the gig despite being with the Titan when they were in Laval.

A second, Claude Bouchard, who is taking a season off from hockey after three years coaching a Jonquière-area team, was reportedly offered the position on Thursday, and didn't turn down the gig until after the Titan had cut ties with Dubois. So, perhaps there was a plan of succession, and that was "hope one of our candidates says yes" before cutting ties with Dubois.

It's not that Dubois is a bad coach or the Titan are a bad team. He took over with two games to go in the 2010-2011 season and spent last year in decent position, going 32-31-2-3. The Titan are 14th in the 'Q' at 10-15-4-0 this season.

"Our results made me do this. They always say it's easier to fire the coach than 25 players, and unfortunately it's true. There was something that just wasn't working. Eric had the same players this year as last but they were producing half as much." [La Presse]

Ty BilckeBreaking News: Fighting Down In Junior Hockey is not an attention-grabbing headline anymore. The new Ontario Hockey League rule that suspends any player for accruing more than 10 fighting majors has already had a significant effect on the number of scraps in the league.

Game-length data is also recorded, and I bet if I tallied up the contests, the pace of games would be much quicker. But this post isn't about editorializing the merits of fighting restrictions, it's about how, not just in the OHL, but all across the Canadian Hockey League fewer junior players are throwing down their gloves.

In fact, fighting is down 14 per cent this season. It's so low that even the New York Times has written about it. Last year's fighting leader in Ty Bilcke was the focal point of the story, the reformed goon who wants to prove he can play:

This season, Bilcke said he welcomed the chance to prove he could play instead of fight. In the recent game against Barrie, he scored his first goal of the season, helping the Spitfires earn a point in a 6-5 overtime loss.

"I told you I was working on my skills," he said, smiling after the game. He also had 1 assist and 44 penalty minutes in his first 25 games.

Russian import Nikita Kucherov

The Québec Remparts dealt away one of their promising young rookies Wednesday afternoon. Nikita Kucherov, the young Russian sniper selected in the 2nd round by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2011 draft, was moved to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in a trade that clears up Québec's import situation.

Officially, the trade was announced by the Remparts as Kucherov going to Rouyn-Noranda for another Russian, Denis Kamaev and Chicoutimi's 2nd round QMJHL draft selection in 2013. The Remparts then dealt Kamaev to the Sherbrooke Phoenix in exchange for a first round choice in the 2014 CHL Import draft, and a 5th round pick in this year's QMJHL draft. Kamaev, a right winger, has 15 points and three goals in 23 games this season.

Struggling to juggle ice-time with the veteran two-way centre Mikhail Grigorenko and the Danish import Nick Sorensen, Kucherov was often on the outside looking in, held out of the lineup by Remparts coach and general manager Patrick Roy. In an interview yesterday with Le

Toronto Maple Leafs first-round pick Morgan Rielly (Getty Images)When Morgan Rielly was in atom, his father sat him down to convince him to move to defence.

"He told me that if I played D, I'd have a whole lot more ice time."

What ended up happening was that a whole bunch of fathers had the same chats with their children. At the height of the dead puck era, when 1994-born hockey players were being influenced by the realities of the National Hockey League, Canadian hockey players started playing defence. As players battle for spots on Team Canada's World Junior roster, the most important position battle is going to take place on defence, where there will be far more guys in the mix.

"It's a cycle. Some years you get a lot of centres, some years a lot of forwards, and at this particular age group, it was the D," said Don Nachbaur, the Spokane Chiefs coach who coached the Western Hockey League all-stars in Games Five and Six of the Subway Super Series. The tournament is the last chance players have to showcase themselves on the national stage prior to the final camp in December.

Eight of the top 10 selections from the 2012 NHL entry draft were defencemen, five of whom suited up over the course of the WHL's two-game set against the Russian selects. Ryan Murray shut down Nail Yakupov effectively in the first game, but for the second contest, with Murray headed back to Everett, the more offensive-leaning rearguards had tougher times. The skills of Mathew Dumba, Morgan Rielly, Derrick Pouliot and Griffin Reinhart were more apparent at the north end of the ice rather than the south end.

Russia's Andrei Sigarev (The Canadian Press)No. 1 Star - Andrei Sigarev, Team Russia

An unheralded player on that top Russian line with Boston prospect Alexander Khokhlachev and Edmonton prospect Nail Yakupov is Sigarev, an undrafted 19-year-old from SKA St. Petersburg. While the small contingent of loud Russian fans were indubitably in attendance to witness Yakupov, it was Sigarev who got off the mark, first drawing a penalty after an unimpeded chance in front, and scoring Russia's second goal of the game, taking advantage of some open space in the slot and firing it high on Laurent Brossoit.

His highlight was an assist in the second period, however, on an offensive zone shift that never ended. Sigarev stole the puck after his own giveaway, and on a 2-on-1, outweighted WHL defenceman Mathew Dumba and slid a perfect pass over to Khokhlachev for the finish. That put Russia up 4-1 late in the period, and for all intents and purposes, was the dagger. Russia would wind up winning the game 5-2 on an empty net goal, and take the series winning three of the six games, but by virtue of one of the CHL's wins being a shootout victory.

No. 2 Star - Mikhail Naumenkov, Team Russia

It was a good night for the undrafted Russian 93 born players. Sigarev got our first star selection, and it was Mikhail Naumenkov, one of Russia's big minute defencemen, who got our second star. After a scoreless first game between the WHL and the Russians, Naumenkov got things going in the first period, albeit on a bit of a flukey bounce on a shot from the point that somehow eluded Laurent Brossoit.