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2013 WJHC


thefiestygoat

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The competition starts on 12/26/12 and ends on 1/5/13 in Ufa, Russia. This tournemant should be extra interesting to watch given the mix of players who should be playing in the NHL mixed with the best junior players and top draft elgibles.

The US opens camp tonight with Devils prospects Stefan Matteau and Blake Pietila competing for spots on the roster. Chris Peters with his fantastic United States of Hockey blog has an in depth preview of the camp with some notes on the Devils players:

Stefan Matteau (NJD) — LW — Blainville-Boisbriand Armada — 29 GP, 15-10–25, 61 PIM

Matteau has that good scoring pop with a heavy shot and good power-forward capabilities. He’s also got a bit of that nastiness in his game. He’ll have to make sure he avoids bad penalties, which he has been prone to take, but his hard-nosed game works at this level thanks to his strong skating.

Blake Pietila (NJD) — LW — Michigan Tech University — 17 GP, 10-2–12, 28 PIM

Not usually known for his offense, Pietila has been scoring at an alarming rate and leads MTU with 10 goals. For Team USA, Pietila will likely be asked to play a checking-line role, but he does that extremely well too. He’s great on the forecheck and if he can contribute a little bit of offense in addition to that physicality, it’s a big bonus.

Future Considerations has been pumping out some fantastic articles on all the draft elgible players that have made the roster of their respective nations or are at least in contention for spots. Here is an article on the three draft elgible players on Canada's roster:

Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin will be joined by undrafted 19-year-old JC Lipon as members of Canada at the World Juniors, the first time Canada will field a roster that includes three draft eligible forwards for the first time in tournament history.

Buzzing the Net is a must read blog for junior hockey news and notes. They have a preview of what should be a dominant Canadian roster here. The lockout has allowed them to have players like Huberdeau, Nugent-Hopkings, and Scheifele up front - pretty damn good. The US will have Galchenyuk as well due to the lockout. As always with Team Canada, goaltender is the big concern.

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Per Mckenzie

IIHF has ruled Team USA's Stefan Noesen ineligible for WJC because he has 7 of 10 games remaining on an OHL suspension.

is there a chance that Boucher get an invite because of this or they'd go with the players they have

He should. He's one of the top goal scorers in the OHL

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I think Team USA already had 26 guys on the roster before Noesen was ruled in eligible. They can only carry 23 for the tournament, so an invite for Boucher is unlikely at this point. However, I still can't understand how he was left off this roster especially considering his chemistry with Galenchyuk and the fact he is one of the top scorers in the OHL. His defensive zone coverage must be god awful.

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Matteau has been skating LW on the 3rd line with Sean Kuraly and Tyler Biggs. Pietila has been skating LW on the 4th line with Cole Bardreau and Ryan Hartman. Only 1 forward will get cut so its looking good for both of them to make the team. Hopefully they have strong exhibition games against Finland and Sweden.

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ah it wasnt matteau i was at the bar watching and thought it was Matteau who did that backhand saucer pass from the side of the net... still a nice pass just not from Matteau

Yeah, thanks a lot man. I was watching on a delay and got me all excited thinking I'd get to see a Devils prospect put up a point, lol. That was definitely an outstanding pass though, on the backhand, under pressure, from halfway behind the net.

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Yeah, thanks a lot man. I was watching on a delay and got me all excited thinking I'd get to see a Devils prospect put up a point, lol. That was definitely an outstanding pass though, on the backhand, under pressure, from halfway behind the net.

lol well i was watching the game at the bar and saw that goal in replays later during the game and walked all the way back to my job and then posted it... haha i dont think the delay was THAT long :P

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Well, sounds like your day was fairly similar to mine. When you said Matteau had the assist, I thought you were referring to a 3rd goal for USA in regulation that I had yet to see. I had seen that goal that came on that pass from Lucia and it was a great play, but then, I as well, had to make the awful and depressing trek back to work.

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Matteau had flashes, didn't really create much, could have played more physical but his skating needs a lot of work. Pietila was amazing given his role. He was terrific on faceoffs, PK, and in the neutral zone. When he created a turnover he was like a rocket going the other way. He is a sure fire 3rd or 4th liner.

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Apparently the US got crushed 5-1 in their final exhibition game against Finland with Pietila scoring the lone goal. I'm not even going to bother to watch this one but it sounds like Pietila is likely to make the team. Matteau apparently recieved a phantom misconduct, so hopefully that doesn't hurt his chances - he's been on the bubble. Roster will be announced around 3 AM so I'll probably be up for that.

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