Moutrey is projected as a second- to third-round choice (Aaron Bell, OHL Images)

That oft-overused phrase 'go to the dirty areas' takes on new meaning with the Saginaw Spirit's Nick Moutrey.

The Saginaw Spirit wing who stands an imposing 6-foot-3, 208 pounds is on the threshold between being a safe NHL draft choice and a potential second-line forward in the big league. The biggest determinant will likely be whether the 17-year-old, who is ranked 58th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting, can develop quicker feet.

"The main thing will be those first couple steps — becoming more explosive, getting those quicker feet at the start," Moutrey says. "I feel like I will do that this summer. I work with [former NHLer] Aaron Downey and he's just 10 minutes from my house.

"He doesn't really like machines, he likes doing all of work all natural," Moutrey says of training with Downey. "He'll have you going up his ropes, going through potato farms when the ground is all mushy to work on quick feet, running with weights."

Swift Current Broncos' Eetu Laurikainen, shown not taking a spot away from a Canadian goalie (Larry MacDougal, The Canadian Press)

This is how you get Canadian goalies ready to be world-beaters, by fearing competition? That question mark was just typed as a reflex, honestly, eh.

Every so often, the Canadian Hockey League will offer a reminder that its teenage players have no monopoly on being juvenile. In what can only be called self-serving, scapegoating, shortsighted, protectionism-writ-large, wagon-circling overreaction to Team Canada's four-year gold-medal drought at the world junior championship, the CHL is phasing in a ban on European goalies in order to solve a problem that does not actually exist.

[Previously: CHL import goaltender crisis
overblown, by the numbers]

Not to digress, but this move by CHL president and OHL commissioner David Branch is awkwardly reminiscient of Major League Baseball commish Bud Selig's BioGenesis stance. You invent a crisis when you've held a position of power for eons.

Major move by @chlhockey Import goalies only eligible in 1st round of next months draft.Goalies will be excluded from the 14 import draft.

— Daren Millard (@darenmillard) June 11, 2013

I understand critics, but we have to find spots for our own kids and those are limited. Think about how many more games n/a goalies get.

— Daren Millard (@darenmillard) June 11, 2013

This is why satire is dead. Canada hasn't had it as good as it used to at the U20 level, so there must be some foreign element one can blame it on.

Ball hockey — it's just like ice hockey, except without all the GLIDIN' ... but there is the occasional assault thrown in.

Playing a version of hockey that most associate with playing on suburban streets or in parking lots competitively always seems just a little too intense, in a kind of over-the-top, off-putting way. Suffice to say, former QMJHL and ECHL player Justin Pender didn't disabuse anyone of that notion with his disgraceful behaviour in front of his hometown during Canada's semifinal loss to the Czech Republic at the World Ball Hockey Championship in St. John's, N.L., on the weekend.

The salacious stuff starts about two minutes into the video. With one second left, as the teams lined up for a meaningless faceoff after the Czechs tacked on the empty-netter in their 5-1 win, the 24-year-old Pender cross-checked and then began punching an opponent. The Czech goalie and an official also felt the Halifax Mooseheads alumnus' wrath. The ref, for his trouble, ended up in the hospital. Please keep in mind that's a man who likely needs two good legs to do his day job. There is also supposed to be no fighting in international ice hockey, never mind its concrete counterpart.

Constantine guided the expansion Silvertips to WHL final in 2004 (The Associated Press)

When Everett Silvertips GM Garry Davidson canned coach Mark Ferner in January, the reason was said to be philosophical differences.

Ferner was a defensive guy; Davidson wanted to Everett to play an up-tempo style patterned on the Portland Winterhawks, his former organization. So it's a bit of twist to learn that Everett's coaching search might settle on the worthy-of-Webster's working definition of defensive hockey, former NHL coach Kevin Constantine, who steered the expansion 'Tips to the WHL final during their maiden season a decade ago.

Hey, it saves on a plane ticket for the 10-year reunion of that team. Both Gregg Drinnan and ticinonews are reporting Constantine, who was scouting for HC Ambri-Piotta in Switzerland after being dismissed as its coach last October, will take the job.

Compher will matriculate at the University of Michigan this season (Tom Sorensen photo)

At an early age, JT Compher realized a strength can also be a weakness.

The NHL draft prospect, these days, has earned high marks for playing a give-no-quarter game, relying on his speed to play the quintessential 200-foot game. The University of Michigan-bound grad of the U.S. national team development program also garnishes that by being an agitator, having come by that quality after seeing it used against him during his younger days.

"I try not to go after the wrong guy but getting in some guys’ heads is part of my game," says the 5-foot-10½, 184-pound Compher, who's projected as a late first or second-round pick in the June 30 NHL draft. "When I was younger, I always played with a lot of passion and some guys were able to get under my skin. I saw that it could be effective and I turned it around to my advantage."

Dauphin was a key part of Canada winning the IIHF U18 world championship (The Canadian Press)

Laurent Dauphin has proved he can score — now it's all about the finer points.

The shifty centre was a poster child for steadily moving up the hockey ladder during his rookie season with the Chicoutimi Saguéneens. Coming in as a 17-year-old, the 6-foot, 166-pound Dauphin finished fifth in rookie scoring by tallying 25 goals and 57 points, including a league-high nine game-winners, across 62 games for a young Sags outfit that finished in the middle of the QMJHL pack. The Repentigny, Que., native also held his own in showcase events; he was named a top player during the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game after being added as an injury replacement just 48 hours before puckdrop and was also a top-six forward and power-play contributor while helping Canada win the IIHF world U18 championship for the first time in five years.

Dauphin, ranked 28th among domestic skaters by NHL Central Scouting, could prove to be a good value pick if his acceleration and physicality progress once he becomes a drafted player.

John Hayden is committed to joining reigning NCAA champion Yale University (Tom Sorensen photo)John Hayden enjoys playing against type.

Since a mention of his hometown of Greenwich, Conn., is sure to trigger a response such as "affluence" during word association games, it seems like a more likely place to turn out a stockbroker than a grim-minded winger whose stock in trade is turning pucks over.

The Yale University recruit raised his draft status over the past season by displaying exceptional agility for a 6-foot-2½, 210-pound teenaged forward with the U.S. under-18 team. How early Hayden comes off the board at the June 30 NHL draft might depend on how much pressure NHL teams feel to add a big winger.

"I get a lot the 'Greenwich pretty boy' stuff, that gets me fired up," says Hayden, who is NHL Central Scouting's 29th-ranked domestic skater. "I like to play a hard game, that's my style.

Spenser Jensen is Central Scouting Service's 76th-ranked domestic skater (Larry MacDougal, The Canadian Press)

A NHL team in need of stay-at-home defencemen in their pipeline might pluck Spenser Jensen out of Alberta at the end of this month.

The former first-rounder in the Western Hockey League bantam draft had a promising sophomore season with the Medicine Hat Tigers, showing some raw potential as a tall shutdown defenceman. At 6-foot-4 and 191 pounds, the Airdrie, Alta., native showed he could use his length to break up offensive sequences and cause turnovers, making the young Tigers a tough out in the Dub's Eastern Conference.

"It takes a little while for you to get the little skills like puck handling when you're a gangly guy," says Jensen, whom NHL Central Scouting has ranked 76th among domestic skater. "I think that's been coming along. I've put on 20 pounds the past two years so hopefully I can continue with that.