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Canadian junior team could take its cue from the Q on the blueline

Daniel Nugent-Bowman

TORONTO – If the summer camp roster is any indication, Canada’s blueline group for the 2017 World Junior Hockey Championship could be a trend setter.

Almost half – six of 14 – of the blueliners invited to the camp hail from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Since 2010, the Canadian world junior team has averaged just a single defenceman from the Quebec league. The 2012 team, which won bronze, had two. The 2014 squad, which finished fourth, had none.

“It’s a good year for them having that number of guys,” said coach Dominique Ducharme, a QMJHL rival previously with the Halifax Mooseheads and now with the Drummondville Voltigeurs. “That’s what you see in the Subway Series (Canada-Russia) that we play in November. Those guys all played there. They did a good job. Most of them have played in the program before. It happens to be one of those years.”

It’s been a decade since there were three defencemen from Quebec on Canada’s world junior team. The late Luc Bourdon, Kris Letang and Sasha Pokulok played on the 2006 team, although Pokulok was playing NCAA hockey at Cornell University.

This group is hoping to attain equal footing.

“This year were have a lot of good D in Quebec,” Rouyn-Noranda Huskies blueliner Jeremy Lauzon said. “Now that we’re here, we want a spot on the team. We will do anything to be on that team at Christmas.”

There’s a reasonable chance the numbers will grow.

Thomas Chabot is a near lock to be on the 2017 team. He’s the only returnee among the nine defencemen from a year ago. The Ottawa Senators first-rounder improved as the tournament went on and was arguably the team’s top rearguard by the end. The Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce, Que., native finished with three assists.

Lauzon likely has a leg up in an attempt to grab one of the seven spots on the final roster in December. Lauzon, a Boston Bruins pick, was one of the final cuts from last year’s team. However, he wasn’t initially invited to the selection camp until an injury to Vince Dunn Of the OHL’s Niagara IceDogs opened a spot. Surviving the first cut provides a confidence booster for the Val-d’Or, Que., native for this year.

“My objective when I came here last year was to make an impression and try to make the team,” Lauzon said. “I think I did well.

“It was disappointing when I was cut, but I said next year I will do anything to make that team.”

The others invited to the summer camp are Guillaume Brisebois (Acadie-Bathurst/Vancouver), Samuel Girard (Shawinigan/Nashville), Jeremy Roy (Sherbrooke/San Jose) and Lauzon’s Rouyn-Noranda teammate Philippe Myers. Myers, a Philadelphia Flyers prospect didn’t skate at the camp.

Canada's Thomas Chabot, Dylan Strome and Jake Virtanen celebrate Strome's 2-1 goal during the 2016 IIHF World Junior U20 Ice Hockey Championships tournament match Switzerland vs Canada in Helsinki, Finland December 29, 2015. REUTERS/Heikki Saukkomaa/Lehtikuva ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. NO THIRD PARTY SALES. NOT FOR USE BY REUTERS THIRD PARTY DISTRIBUTORS. FINLAND OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN FINLAND.

Last year, just four QMJHL defencemen were invited to the summer camp, including Chabot and Roy. Showing well in league play in the fall will go a long way.

“We’ve got a good group of Quebec guys – not even on defence, but on forward, too,” Roy said. “Hopefully we’ll get a couple players on the team for world juniors at Christmas.

“Every time they see you, you’ve got to give the best of you.”

Lauzon noted the group’s best attribute is an ability to move the puck succinctly.

Ducharme agrees, adding that skill could bode well for them moving forward.

“That’s the way we want to be playing,” he said. “At the same time, we want to be good defending. But we want to be good on transition. We want our Ds to be good at moving pucks and playing fast, finding options and getting the puck to the offensive side.”

A CHANGE IN PUCKS

Team Canada goaltending consultant Fred Brathwaite used a drill at the summer camp he’d never tried before – shooting with white pucks.

Brathwaite picked up the idea, while he was a guest coach at St. Louis Blues development camp in early July.

“It’s an eye thing, a concentration thing,” Brathwaite said. “I don’t know if the goalies like them, but I thought they were pretty cool.”

Said Evan Cormier, a New Jersey Devils pick who plays for OHL Saginaw: “I’ve done it before, but I haven’t done it too much lately. It’s definitely a lot different coming at you. You can see it before it leaves the stick, but once it leaves the stick it’s kind of hard to track it.”

INTRA-SQUAD ACTION

Red beat White 7-4 in an intra-squad game Monday night at MasterCard Centre. Joseph Mathieu scored twice, while Zach Senyshyn, Connor Hobbs, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Julien Gauthier and Chabot added singles in the win. Mitchell Stephens (two) and Anthony Cirelli and Travis Konecny responded for the White team. The Canadian team heads to Plymouth, Mich., for exhibition games against Finland, Sweden and the United States on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, respectively.