The year that was: (TSN)
Passion not the same: (Sportsnet.CA)
No Contest: (CBC)
This should be interesting: (ESPN)
Still a Stern guy: (Chicago Tribune)
Nothing: (TSN)
Support Group: (Grantland)
Can Canada save the NHL? (Sportsnet)
Make whole with the fans:(CBC)
Barriers in the KHL:(Pro Hockey Talk)
Second NHL Team in Toronto can’t happen: (Puck Daddy)
It’s a big week for Phillip Danault and Mark McNeill, as they are both currently in Calgary for Canada’s World Junior Training Camp. They will find out Thursday if they’ve made the team, and they could be fighting for the same spot.
Both went into it on a roll as well. Danault especially went bonkers in two games this weekend, with one goal and seven assists! That gives Phillip 44 points in 29 games, though that hasn’t kept Victoriaville from being pretty ho-hum this year.
McNeill had a goal and two assists in three games before heading to Calgary.
Let’s round up the kids, because we’ve got nothing else to do.
We’ll start in the Q, as is customary. Phillip Danault had a pretty busy week before getting his invite to the World Junior Training Camp for Canada next week. Four games, a goal and an assist but an unsightly -4. In fact, Danault is a -8 in his last seven games, which isn’t all that encouraging for a player that’s supposed to be a solid two-way player. It dropped him from +4 on the year to -4. Something to be watched.
His teammate Brandon Whitney had a much better week, starting all four games. Only went 1-3, but stopped 38 of 39, then 34 of 38, 28 of 31, and 36 of 39 shots in those games. That’s a .923 SV% for those four games.
Dillon Fournier was a +1 in three games for Rouyn-Noranda
Tuesdays have become our organizational endoscopy, so we have to do the other half and check out the kids in juniors and college.
For a new wrinkle, let’s start in the college ranks and then make our way to the Great White North. And like I made the mistake of doing, we’ll start in the Northeast. Braden Birch was part of the Cornell team that clocked Michigan at MSG. Watched a lot of that game and he was a lot more noticeable than he was in NBCSN’s coverage of the tilt against Harvard.
Tuesdays have become our organizational endoscopy, so we have to do the other half and check out the kids in juniors and college.
For a new wrinkle, let’s start in the college ranks and then make our way to the Great White North. And like I made the mistake of doing, we’ll start in the Northeast. Braden Birch was part of the Cornell team that clocked Michigan at MSG. Watched a lot of that game and he was a lot more noticeable than he was in NBCSN’s coverage of the tilt against Harvard.
Time for our spin around the Canadian backwaters and American college towns to find out what’s up with the Hawks kids this past weekend. Are you ready to fly? Let’s go!
Let’s do the normal snake pattern from the Quebecois to the cowboys and then back down through the US. That means the QMJHL to kick it off. Phillip Danault had two assists in tw games for Victoriaville against Chicoutimi and Quebec. I think I had some Chicoutimi on my burger last week, utterly delicious. Danualt now has 33 points in 22 games, both equally divisible by 11 which is awesome. Something great about the multiples of 11. I think it’s the symmetry. His teammate Brandon Whitney continues to see pucks whiz by him a little too consistently. He gave up five goals on 19 Chimchurri shots. But he backed that up with a 31-save performance on 33 shots against Quebec. Victoriaville is 4th in their division.
I guess it’s a regular thing now. I mean, we’ve got nothing else to talk about. So let’s get to what we can.
It’s even more infuriating that there’s no NHL with the first update. Because normally I would see what Phillip Danault is doing in the QMJHL and I would picture him on the ice down the road with what I was seeing on the UC sheet. But I don’t have that picture, and I can’t see Danault doing any of this without some weird internet feed, and I just want to kick a cat. Because he’s didn’t stop crushing skulls this weekend.
