Team Canada WJC Roster 1/2

[Seabass 593]

Last week the S70 WJC Roster's were announced as the road to the WJC will be ramping up shortly, as it's set to start soon enough. Team Canada is coming off a disastrous year where their fans raged over the team no winning a single medal.  The bar is always set high for Canada as it's always claimed that hockey is Canada's game but how can that be true with Team Canada not winning the gold medal since back in season 64. I myself wasn't able to capture the gold in my 2 years of service to team Canada. I'm back this year but behind the bench this time as an assistant coach and I would love nothing but to see this year's team win it all. Looking at this year's roster i'm pretty confident we have a team that will bring back the gold to where it belongs. 

 

The Forwards:

 

Erik Killinger - Killinger is having a dominant season so far in the VHLM. He's currently 9th on the VHLM scoring list with 71 points in 36 games and is only trailing team mate, Hugh Jass for the team lead in points for the Houston Bulls . I suspect that much like in Houston, Team Canada will rely on Killinger to be their go to offensive contributor up front.  He definitely won't have any issues with creating chemistry with his team mates on Team Canada since the Houston Bulls have __ players representing the maple leaf.

 

Kristopher McDagg - McDagg wasn't able to dress for any of Canada's games last year however he is expected to be one of this year's leaders as one of the few returning members from last year's embarassment. Look out for McDagg to make pull out all the stops so he can not repeat last year's results. McDagg has been having a career year so far as he has set himself a career best in points (53) and he still has half a season to play! You can expect to see McDagg rejoin Bulls teammate, Killinger on Team Canada's top line. 

 

Alex Burrows - Burrows has earned his way on the team through hard work. Burrows is small winger but is also quite the fiesty player as he's already amassed himself over 100 hits already as well as being almost a point per game player with 32 points in 36 games. Not too shabby for a kid that wasn't able to get on the scoresheet at all last season in Mexico.

 

Damien Wolfe - Wolfe is another member from last year's roster selections that didn't manage to get playing time. Wolfe hopes to prove last year's coach wrong in not playing him. He's almost a PPG player in the VHLM with 31 points in 36 games and let's hope his a PPG player on Canada as well. 

 

Justin Graves - Graves has had a impressive rookie season in the VHLM. He already has over 20 goals (23) and is set to hit the 50 point mark soon enough (46) in only 36 games played. He has been one of the bright shining stars of the lowly Los Vegas Aces and is currently only behind VHLM veteran, Mike Van Stronk for the team lead in scoring.  Graves is another one of those guys you may see either on the 2nd or 3rd but can play on any line really. 

 

Daldo - Daldo is sloted to be one of the Canadian's top offensive threats along with Killinger and McDagg. The problem here is just which of the three will sit out of the top 3 since none of them are centermen. We figure since Killinger and McDagg already have chemistry playing on the Houston Bulls that the odd man out just may be Daldo but that doesn't mean he's any less good. Daldo is the only player on the team to even come close to hitting the 100 point mark (he hit 95 in S69) and he's already broken both the 30 goal mark and the 60 point mark this year. Daldo is a man you should keep an eye on as he's another member of last year's team that's looking to exact revenge. He's the only returning member that has actually played a game in the last year's WJC.

 

Adil Mahmood - Mahmood was only a depth forward on last year's team, and like Wolfe and McDagg, Mahmood wasn't able to dress for any of the team's games last year, This year Mahmood hope to dress for at least a game as hes set to have a career year for himself in the VHLM where he managed to almost hit the 30point mark (29). 

 

JaredN - JaredN is another one of last year's returnee's that got benched in order to play top heavy with their stars on last year's team Canada. This year JaredN is almost guaranteed playing time as Team Canada is real thin at center. It'll be a battle between JaredN and Rasmussen to see who will be team Canada's top line centerman. I'd say JaredN has the edge to win that battle since he has great two way abilities. 

 

Kendall Rasmussen - Rasmussen is set to battle out JaredN for the team's top line centerman role. Rasmussen has better offensive number in the VHLM (23 points vs JaredN's 20 points). JaredN has the more rounded game while Rasmussen is a pure playmaking centerman as 21 of his 23 points are assists. It'll be interesting to see how this will go.

 

That all but wraps up part 1/2 of this article. Next week in part two i'll be going over the defensemen and the goaltenders for the team. 

[Jbeezy76 396]

@Sebster03 great article! Canada hype!!

[jared 66]