Canadian Juniors look to CIS All-Stars for tune-up

TORONTO – Matthew Pufahl recognizes the similarity, but it’s nowhere close to the same thing.

Pufahl, a defenceman for the Acadia Axemen, is part of a collection of Canadian Interuniversity Sport players recruited to ready the country’s top juniors for an important tournament to come.

However, it was 2 ½ years ago that Pufahl was on the opposition side of the equation.

His Saskatoon Blades were scheduled to host the 2013 Memorial Cup, but were bounced in the first round of the WHL playoffs and had to wait more than 50 days for that tourney to start. A collection of Blades alumni were called in as the event approached to offer some fine tuning.

Pufahl and his university teammates prepared a little more thoroughly though.

“It’s different,” he said. “The past couple practices we’ve been gelling well together. The practices have been pretty high-paced. We’ve been snapping the puck around pretty good.”

Pufahl, 22, and his teammates take their assignment of providing the juniors with a stiff test on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon very seriously. And it helps that they represent the best of the CIS.

In past years, Hockey Canada has typically just brought in a group of local university players for the exhibition games.

Last year, for instance, the university squad was comprised of players from nearby York, Toronto and Ryerson. The juniors blasted them 10-3 and 6-0.

“We haven’t had the greatest competition out here the last couple years,” Hockey Canada director of player personnel Ryan Jankowski said. “That’s nothing against the players here. They tried. They worked hard. It just wasn’t great games.

“We wanted to be able to put better competition for us to be able to evaluate our players. We like that age group because they’re bigger, they’re stronger. We’ve got a little more skill from eastern and western Canada.”

Jankowski said he’s noting which players vying for roster spots gain separation from the pack.

Doing so is more of an accomplishment against this group of university players, all of whom are either former CHL or NCAA players. Forwards Stephen MacAulay and Eric Locke were once NHL draft picks.

“You look at their junior hockey careers and the pedigree of some of these guys, they were on the cutting edge of being that good,” said Acadia University athletic director and CIS team general manager Kevin Dickie, a former WHL head coach. “A lot of could be pros but they’ve chosen to go the student-athlete route.”

With plenty of NHL scouts in attendance, Dickie added this is the perfect chance to showcase the quality of Canadian university hockey and the players in it.

The CIS players understand the importance of these games for themselves and for the juniors, too.

Pufahl played in Red Deer with former Canadian juniors Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Mathew Dumba and in Everett as the defensive partner of current hopeful Noah Juulsen.

MacAulay, a 2011 and 2013 Memorial Cup champion, was teammates with the likes of Jonathan Huberdeau, Nathan Beaulieu, Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin in the QMJHL.

“If we beat them, that’s great for our league. I think it’s very underrated hockey and people don’t really know how good it is,” said MacAulay, in his third year at Saint Mary’s University.

“If we can put together a couple good games and showcase it, that would be great. If it gets them ready for the tournament and they win a gold medal, that’s even better.”

Supporting the world junior team is clearly the first priority. And part of that is giving them the best tests possible.

“We understand that part of our being here is to try and help the world junior team prepare to try and win a gold medal,” Dickie said. “But we also don’t want to be the Washington Generals.”

More Hockey Coverage From Yahoo Sports: