Team Canada Roster

[MetalToday 266]

The World Cup team Canada roster has been revealed, and it looks quite amazing. The team looks like one of the better teams created, but the team has not had the best teams the past 8 World Cups, but this team could very well be the next power team for Canada. Canada has 1 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze medals in the last 8 World Cup showings, as the team was one of the biggest powerhouse countries in the seasons 50’s and 60’s. They are tied with the most gold medals in World Cup history, and in second place for the most medals in total. With this reveal we should check out the roster to see what exactly we will be watching, is the team as good as its shacked up to be?

 

The first pick for Canada was Alex Johnson who is seen as one of the best goal scorers in the game right now. His career high is 63 goals and 125 points in 72 games in the season 81, and yes, his points and scoring ability is amazing, but he is not afraid of making those huge hits as he averages over 220 hits a season. His playoff record is very good, but he has a history of not doing so well in the first round, so if the team is able to help bring Canada to the next rounds, Johnson will probably breakout in those playoffs.

 

AJ Williams is another player that made the team Canada roster, he takes crazy shots, even taking over 600 shots in his best season where he recorded 52 goals and 106 points in the 72 games. Williams has a history of amazing playoffs, averaging over a point a game in total over the last 5 seasons even collecting 12 goals and 23 points in only 18 games. Williams is usually on the ice for goals resulting in a positive +/-, and another notable stat is his lack of penalties, where he has only 123 pim in the last 5 seasons in total.

 

Alexandre Leduc is another good pick, but as he can average a point a game in the seasons he’s spent in the VHL and averages a point a game in the playoffs which is huge. Leduc also has a history being on the ice for goals for, giving him a good positive +/-. Leduc isn’t one to throw many hits or block lots of shots, but he is fully willing to do so as needed by his team. His discipline isn’t great in the season, which would need to be better on team Canada, however he has a good touch of not going in the box in the playoffs, making him a real defensive player.  

 

 Jonathan Ori is a good pick for Canada, he doesn’t take many shots, but once he starts taking more shots there shouldn’t be much surprise his goal count increases significantly. Ori is a big body and can help intimidate the opponents with his big hits, and his passing ability can really compliment the goal scorers on the team. Unfortunately he has only been to the playoffs with his team once, but he was able to prove his worth as he had close to a point a game, and made it to the finals with his team, only to lose to Warsaw, so if he can keep those playoff stats up, team Canada would happily use those services.

 

Brendan Marner is another player that was picked for the team, and they clearly picked him up hoping he comes back to his old self. Marners rookie season seem him score 45 points and 100 points in the 72 games, that was his career high, and he has slowly decreased his totals. Marner is a big body that gives those big hits and will intimidate the opponent to their core. Marner still has time, and he can improve, this is the time for Marner to really show he still has it in him.

 

Baby Bob is the last of the forwards on the team. Bob has had a better VHL tenure since his introduction to the league, with his great scoring ability being highlighted the most goals in a season being 49, ne had always been over a point a game throughout his career, and has only gotten more, and more points with that. His playoffs have almost always impressed the GM’s, close to a point a game throughout his VHL playoff tenured, but this past season he got nearly a goal a game, 7 games and 6 goals. Bob has also always had good +/-, I mean amazing, with a positive 157 in only 4 seasons, Bob can make everyone on the ice just so much better. Despite Bobs small size, he decided to stop the bullying and give some more hits the past couple of seasons.

 

To start the defence, what better way than to pick Nathan Powers. Powers gets crazy point totals during the seasons, nearly a point a game every season. Powers isn’t much of a hitter, but is not afraid to block a tough shot, with a block shot average of nearly 150 a season, proving to be one of the best blockers of the game. His positive +/- can really show how he is always a player to keep the puck out of his own net. With nearly a point a game in the playoffs, it shows Powers is capable on average of producing more than in the regular season, making him one of the best 2-way defenseman in the league.

 

Hulk Hogan 2 is one of the younger players in the World Cup, and is a consistent point producer, averaging just over a point a game, and in the playoffs this young defenseman could collect well over a point a game in the last 3 playoff appearances. With 46 playoff games, and 56 points, that is the kind of offensive defenseman you need. His physical game has gotten much better as he has doubled his hit count each season in the VHL, and now is seen as one of the heavier hitters so far. His shot blocking skills are still high, taking more than 125 shots in the last 3 seasons.

 

Defenseman Poopy Peepants is one of the better defensive defensemen in the league while he has 300 hits in one season to be his all time high for hit production, he easily collects 200 hits in other seasons. Peepants has been slowly picking up his production over time with this past season being the first time he has reached a point a game. He has also been one of the better shot deflectors/blockers in the game collecting usually between 130 and 155 in a single season. Although Peepants has not been the biggest producing defenseman in the game, he is a great player to have while looking to save extra shots from hitting the net, and really intimidate the opponent with the many big hits.

 

Lastly Aurelien Moreau is going to play on defense for the team Canada core, I think. Now Moreau has announced his retirement recently, but I guess he will be playing his last games in team Canada, the country he loves. Moreau, if you haven’t heard, is one of the best defensemen in the league, in fact he has collected more points in one season than most of the offensive group could get in one season. Moreau had a career high of 118 points in the 81st season. He only lost his hitting ability these past couple seasons collecting a smaller 100 hits in each season, but before that he was consistently in the high 100s for hits and even in the mid to high 200 for hits for a few years as well. His shot blocking ability is one of the best in the league as well, being a player to consistently collect mid to high 100’s of blocked shots, making him one of the best defensemen in the game all time. His amazing playoff totals, and his overall play everywhere on the ice will make everyone on the team better and it will be fun to watch this old man beat the crap out of all these other young kids.  

 

The next section to talk about is the goaltending, and wow these kids are young, but good. Brant Fuhr is the first goalie to talk about, and you will know why if you ever seen him play. Fuhr has only 2 seasons under his belt, being one of the youngest guys on the team, he still has an average of 0.927 save percentage, and this is with a very underwhelming Vancouver team, a stat that than may turn one off is the 3.23 goals against average. This isn’t as good, but when you really look at the team in front of him, there isn’t any help, even with his small 18 wins in 65 games and 19 wins in 64 games.

 

Going from bad team in front of a goalie to decent, Ben Dahl has some good numbers to show us. In the 2 seasons Dahl has played in the VHL you can see an amazing rookie season with 33 wins in 64 games where he also had 0.926 save percentage, and 2.74 goals against average in that same season. In those playoffs Dahl couldn’t control a win, but got a 0.927 save percentage still, and a decent 2.75 goals against average. Although the team didn’t go anywhere, he seemed like a crazy steal of a draft pick from the team. Dahl then responded in the next season to collect 35 wins in 64 games, he also had a 2.66 goals against average but a slight regression of a 0.914 save percentage. However, once Dahl hit that season’s playoffs, he collected 3 wins in the 7 games, but a 3.06 goals against average, and a worse 0.909 save percentage. That playoff series was not Dahls best, but he was sure to be ready for the next season, and the World Cup, if we get season 83 Ben Dahl, we will most definitely see this beast save anything and everything coming at team Canadas net.

 

I had to mention an overlooked player that probably should have had more eyes on him was Zach Kisslinger II. This past season for Kisslinger was not as great as one might expect, however 69 points in 72 games is very close to a point a game, before that he had good runs, best being his run-in season 82 where he had 44 goals and 123 points in 72 games, that was an incredible run, but that’s not where his play ends. Kisslinger has had a slow start with hits but exploded in season 83 for 345 hits and last season with another 255 hits, completely annihilating the opponents. Kisslinger has always been amazing in the playoffs as well, whether its 5 goals and 14 points in 8 games, 6 points in 6 games, or an unruly 14 goals for 29 points in only 20 games, his playoff ability is better than most, and should’ve not been overlooked by the team Canada GM. Oh yeah, and if you want someone to intimidate the opponent in the playoffs, Kisslinger was averaging 5.05 hits a game this past playoffs, this would give him about 364 hits in a 72 game season if that pace was met. He would be the best playoff team Canada forward they have on the roster.

 

Nonetheless, team Canada is stacked, and they are ready to be the next team Canada to bring home gold. There will be some tough battles in the Nordic and USA as there usually is, but if they keep up what they are known to do, this could be the next big powerhouse generation to sweep the next few World Cups! Contract talks may distract some players, but hopefully they will benefit from quick and easy negotiations, so they can focus as much as they can on winning Canada the cup. Let’s bring it home!

[MetalToday 266]

Claim Weeks:

 

8/28

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9/18

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9/11

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9/18