Toronto Mike

Hockey Canada

Total 137 Posts

Nothing Beats the World Juniors

I love this tournament. I always have. Canada games during the World Juniors are mandatory viewing for me, regardless of the time zone. This time, the tournament is in Canada. In fact, I'll be attending the gold medal game at the ACC. Here's hoping we're playing in that one. Here's
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Hockey Is Ours

I'm watching the world junior hockey exhibition game between Canada and Finland and they just aired a Nike ad on TSN. Live sports is the only time I see ads because it's the only time I watch live TV.  This "Hockey Is Ours" ad from Nike, however, nails it. Hockey
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Canada 8, Finland 1

Well, that was easy. Most of the chatter heading into this tournament revolved around Mark Stone and he didn't disappoint, scoring a hat trick.  It's too bad he's a Senators prospect. Jonathan Huberdeau had a great game as well, scoring a goal and five points.  We've got the Czech Republic
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My Boxing Day Tradition: World Junior Championship Hockey

My favourite Boxing Day tradition isn't shopping, it's settling in to watch the Canadian juniors open their World Junior Championship.  The 2011 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships take place in Calgary and Edmonton and we play Finland at 3:30pm. Here's our team this year: #PlayerHometown/CountryTeam/OrganizationNHL DraftGoaltenders29Mark Visentin
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Canada 4, USA 1

I friggin' loved this game.  I loved that it was on US soil but the crowd was all ours, I loved that we got revenge for last year and I loved that we dominated as underdogs, destroying our neighbours for a chance to play Russia in the finals. Goals by
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Canada 4, Switzerland 1

This one actually scared me for a bit.  Switzerland scored early on an absolutely brutal goal for Mark Visentin to allow and Swiss goalie Benjamin Conz looked like Martin Gerber circa 2006. But then, the universe righted itself, as it's apt to do.  Ryan Johansen tied the score 1-1 and
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Canada 5, Sweden 6

It wasn't the prettiest game, but it was another New Year's Eve thriller.  Swedish goalie Robin Lehner  came up big in the shootout helping his squad squeak by and into the semi-finals. We'll now have to play a quarter-final game, likely against Switzerland.  We knew going in it would be
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Canada 10, Norway 1

My prediction for this game was 14-0.  I was pretty close.  You just knew this one was going to be a laugher, we've never lost to Norway and we've outscored them 60-7. It was 7-1 after 21 minutes.  Luke's little brother scored 4 goals, giving him a tournament leading 12
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Canada 7, Czech Republic 2

Down 1-0 early, I wondered how we'd ever beat the Swedes if we had our hands full with the Czechs.  Then, everything came together as expected. We outshot the Czechs 39-19 and Luke's little brother ended up with five points.  Seven different players scored for this star-less team that's going
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Canada 6, Russia 3

Canada hasn't lost a world junior opener since 1998.  I was thinking about that streak when it was 3-3 in the third period, and wondering just how good a team we have this year. As you've likely heard, there are no stars on this team.  There is nobody like Lindros
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Boxing Day Means Canada vs. Russia

My favourite Boxing Day tradition is settling in to watch the Canadian juniors open their World Junior Championship.  The 2011 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships take place in Buffalo and we play Russia at 3:30pm. Here's our team this year: GOALTENDERSMark Visentin, 19, 6-foot-2, 198 lbs.  Hometown: Waterdown, Ont.
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Kicking Russian Ass

O ye of little faith, you didn't think we'd have a chance against Russia in the quarter-finals, did you?  On Monday, I wrote Poor Russia after connecting the dots and seeing Russia in our sight-lines after a gimme against Germany. I'll bet the last team Russia wanted to face in
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Canada 5, USA 6

The last time I wrote a World Junior Hockey Championship game recap without Canada winning the gold medal was January 5, 2004.  I titled that entry "Silver Sucks". Since then, we've won five straight gold medals and silver still sucks.  Tonight we lost, but not before coming back from a
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