Canada's World Jr. Development Camp: Wrap

Forty Four Players, Five days, Ten Practices, Two Games... An early glimpse at what Team Canada may look like come December. The World Junior Summer Development Camp is officially in the books and by all accounts it was a huge success.

The players were split into two groups: Red and White. The focus was mainly on Team White, which had a stacked team that featured six of the eight returning players from last year's Gold Medal winning team. So it came as no surprise when Team White got past Team Red in Saturday's Red vs. White Game. But it was a much different story on Sunday Night... thanks to three goals in 4:18, the Red team got its revenge with a hard fought 5-3 win.

Shawn Lalonde was named player of the game after two goals in 43-seconds - both of which were tremendous slapshots from close range. Lalonde was rewarded by wearing a watermelon and even got some shaving cream in the face.

"You just bond with the guys, you get to know them really well. There's a lot of good guys here, I had a lot of fun here as you can tell." When asked if it was shaving cream, he responded "Yea it is shaving cream, it's actually burning my eyes right now." A great sport for finishing post game interviews.

I'll put the scoring summary at the bottom of this entry - but right now, let's focus on the camp as a whole. I'm no hockey expert so I'll let Head Coach, Willie Desjardins, break down the camp.

"I was quite impressed. I thought we had a good five days, I thought guys battled hard, I thought we we wanted to make sure we had intensity in camp and we did have that. I thought we wanted to get a good look at guys in different situations and I thought we had the opportunity to do that as well."

He hopes that everyone at the camp gave it their all and left nothing behind, giving the coaching staff and scouts everything they need for their evaluations. When asked who most impressed him during the camp, he didn't want to single any one player in particular saying hockey is a team game. Though there was one guy who stood out throughout the five days - Ryan O'Reilly. He's a guy who can score, he's a solid set up man, and isn't afraid to get his nose dirty.

"I thought he had a really good weekend. He's a guy that came in that was maybe a little under the radar but he certainly moved himself up in the lineup."

O'Reilly, Saturday's Player of the Game, was happy with his efforts. He came into camp with lots to prove.


" I didn't play here last year. I missed that - I didn't really have a good year last year. So coming to camp I knew that I needed to perform if I had any shot of making this so I just gotta give it everything I had. I got a little lucky, I had some bounces go my way, and capitalize on that. I thought I did well."

Nazem Kadri is another player who certainly left an impression. He was out to prove he belongs after missing last year's cut due to a broken jaw. His speed and soft hands should make him a lock for this year's squad.

"I think so, I've been working pretty hard this summer and I think I got a good crack at making this team. I'm pretty happy with how I've played here this camp and unfortunately last year I didn't really get the shot I wanted from the injury. I'm just trying to regroup this year and try my best."

Saskatoon's Brayden Schenn also missed out last year. He had a decent weekend and should definitely earn an invite to December's main camp.

"I think you always feel you could do a little bit more. For me, it's just mid-august - still got a lot of time to regroup before camp and hopefully I get an invite back to the Christmas camp and take it from there."

I did expect a bit more from Schenn but let's face it, it's the beginning of August so let's cut him some slack. Let's also remember that Jordan Eberle was ranked last after last year's summer camp and look how well he turned out for Canada. Let's reserve any judgement on Schenn until we see how he does with the Brandon Wheat Kings or the LA Kings.

I do wonder if there has even been a time where a player who made Team Canada the year before, was cut the following year. They say there's a first for everything so maybe Evander Kane will be that guy. He had tons of turnovers and seemed to just be floating out on the ice over the five days. If I were picking this team based solely on this camp, Kane would be on the outside looking in.

Goaltending wise, I think Jake Allen is by far the best netminder on Team Canada's radar. He was head and shoulders above the other three. I'd put Martin Jones behind him... and have Matt Hackett and Olivier Bellavance-Roy fight for the third spot.

Guys I was most impressed with...

1. Ryan O'Reilly
2. Colten Teubert
3. Nazem Kadri

Guys I was disappointed with...

1. Evander Kane
2. Matt Duchene
3. Brayden Schenn

With Matt Duchene, I'll admit I don't know much about the guy other than he was drafted third overall this year by the Colorado Avalanche. I just wasn't impressed - he didn't stand out to me in the camp. Sure he had fancy stick work but he just didn't seem very effective in game situations. Just my two cents.

So that's about it. It was an awesome experience covering the camp and the players really looked good out there. Disappointing to see Cody Hodgson and Jordan Caron leave with injury but such is the nature of the beast. Props to Colten Teubert who really played hard and let's just say if he plays like that for the Regina Pats this season - watch out!

TEAM RED VS. TEAM WHITE
Credit Union Centre - Sunday, August 9, 2009
Attendance: 2400+

1st Period

(1-0) 19:40 WHITE Ryan O’Reilly (Dylan Olsen, Tyler Myers) PP

2nd Period

(2-0) 03:02 WHITE Cameron Gaunce (Ryan O’Reilly, Louis Leblanc)
(2-1) 05:15 RED Brandon Kozun (Adam Henrique, Patrick Wiercioch)
(3-1) 06:51 WHITE Luke Adam (Alex Pietrangelo, Kelsey Tessier)
(3-2) 12:17 RED Cody Eakin (Charles-Olivier Roussel)
(3-3) 15:52 RED Shawn Lalonde (Patrice Cormier, Brandon Kozun)
(3-4) 16:35 RED Shawn Lalonde (T.J. Brodie, Josh Brittain)

3rd Period

(3-5) 19:58 RED Joe Colborne EN