World Junior Tourney - Toronto/Montreal

[AZSIOUX]

Games start Dec 26th and end Jan 5th.

Toronto and Montreal will host 

Team USA will play its preliminary-round games at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto against fellow Group A members Canada, Latvia, Russia, and Slovakia. Quarterfinals will be split between the Bell Centre in Montreal and Air Canada Centre. The semifinal and medal games will be played at the Bell Centre while relegation games will be played at Air Canada Centre.

 

Potential UND players in tourney 

JOST - Canada 

TOMEK - Slovakia 

Boeser - USA  (OUT WRIST SURGERY) due back in January for UND 

 

USA HOCKEY WJT

 

Team Canada - TSN

 

WJT Twitter follows (please add more if know of solid Twitter sources)

CANADA

markhmasters 

tsnbobmckenzie

craigjbutton

SLOVAKIA

USA

[fightingsioux4life]

Canada is always considered the clear favorite every single year, so let them have that label if they want it. I think Team USA will benefit not having an entire nation follow their every move for two weeks.

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

Toronto is about a 5 hour drive from Union College and Montreal a 3 hr... just sayin 

[AZSIOUX]

Jost on 4th line morning skate today. They scrimmage tonight vs Czech.

[scpa0305]

16 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

Canada is always considered the clear favorite every single year, so let them have that label if they want it. I think Team USA will benefit not having an entire nation follow their every move for two weeks.

I haven't see odds but are they the favorite this year?  Team USA smoked them this summer and that was with Canada having Marner, Crouse, and Chychrun.  USA will be smaller on D but they should be very skilled.  Their forward group is deep.  Pretty much 4 first lines.

[fightingsioux4life]

9 minutes ago, scpa0305 said:

I haven't see odds but are they the favorite this year?  Team USA smoked them this summer and that was with Canada having Marner, Crouse, and Chychrun.  USA will be smaller on D but they should be very skilled.  Their forward group is deep.  Pretty much 4 first lines.

Generally, they are considered the default favorite by a lot of people (not all of them Canadians either).

[scpa0305]

9 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

Generally, they are considered the default favorite by a lot of people (not all of them Canadians either).

Yeah I get that....I was wondering if there are real odds out there.  This year should be a little different I believe.

[UNDhoops]

i dont think we are going to medal but i will reserve comment until we see if USA hockey makes the same mistakes with their roster picks they have been making lately

[yzerman19]

To me, the performance of the elite teams:   USA, Canada, Russia, Czech, Finland, Sweden is really all about coaching and goaltending.

The difference in skill at this elite level at these elite programs is so marginal...even At the 4th line.

i love this tourney.  

[Fetch]

http://teamusa.usahockey.com/page/show/2886713-brock-boeser

[yzerman19]

23 minutes ago, Fetch said:

http://teamusa.usahockey.com/page/show/2886713-brock-boeser

Anybody remember the final roster cut day?  

[scpa0305]

Brock having surgery, out for WJC.  Dang.

[fightingsioux4life]

2 minutes ago, scpa0305 said:

Brock having surgery, out for WJC.  Dang.

The question now is, who will replace him?

Another question is, will he miss the rest of the season with North Dakota?

[scpa0305]

Just now, fightingsioux4life said:

The question now is, who will replace him?

Another question is, will he miss the rest of the season with North Dakota?

There is enough F's to still build an elite team....but he would have made a difference.

Sounds like he'll be back in January.

[Oxbow6]

24 minutes ago, scpa0305 said:

Brock having surgery, out for WJC.  Dang.

So................................................................he and the medical staff waited at a minimum of 3 weeks to decide if surgery was warranted?

[Oxbow6]

1 hour ago, fightingsioux4life said:

Another question is, will he miss the rest of the season with North Dakota?

 

1 hour ago, scpa0305 said:

Sounds like he'll be back in January.

So if he misses the WJC and is not back for UND in January there should be lots of questions asked............and answers given IMO.  Also 8 conference games in January.  Big difference in missing 2 of those vs. 6.

[UNDHawks4life]

Sucks that besser is having surgery but his wrist shot has been lacking lately so it is good timing so he is back for the home stretch!!!!!

[scpa0305]

7 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

 

So if he misses the WJC and is not back for UND in January there should be lots of questions asked............and answers given IMO.

Probably not, Im guessing he had to make a tough decision today as the USA is finalizing rosters.  He missed time thinking it would get better...and it obviously didn't.  I'm guessing he saw a doctor a few weeks ago and he had two options...have surgery now or wait and see if it gets better (as is usually the case with these types of injuries).  Why would he have ruled himself out of the WJC several weeks ago not knowing if he would get better or not?

[Oxbow6]

26 minutes ago, scpa0305 said:

Probably not, Im guessing he had to make a tough decision today as the USA is finalizing rosters.  He missed time thinking it would get better...and it obviously didn't.  I'm guessing he saw a doctor a few weeks ago and he had two options...have surgery now or wait and see if it gets better (as is usually the case with these types of injuries).  Why would he have ruled himself out of the WJC several weeks ago not knowing if he would get better or not?

To your last question I guess it depends on where his emphasis and priorities were hockey wise this season when the injury occurred..........UND's remaining schedule or making the WJC roster. Tough to really say both with an injury like this. If the "fix" was/is surgery regardless of the time frame it was discussed that was his call.........unfortunately it didn't mend with time off.  Statements have called it "minor" surgery.........it's never "minor" to the patient.

[siouxstudent]

2 hours ago, scpa0305 said:

Yeah I get that....I was wondering if there are real odds out there.  This year should be a little different I believe.

Should be out a day or so before tourney starts.

[I Ranger]

38 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

To your last question I guess it depends on where his emphasis and priorities were hockey wise this season when the injury occurred..........UND's remaining schedule or making the WJC roster. Tough to really say both with an injury like this. If the "fix" was/is surgery regardless of the time frame it was discussed that was his call.........unfortunately it didn't mend with time off.  Statements have called it "minor" surgery.........it's never "minor" to the patient.

I'm sure it was a difficult decision for him as obviously he had his heart set on playing in the WJC. But us as Sioux fans in hindsight wish he would have had the surgery three weeks ago and would be ready to go for the second half of the season. Let's hope he's a fast healer and is back sooner rather than later.

[SiouxTupa]

57 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

 

So if he misses the WJC and is not back for UND in January there should be lots of questions asked............and answers given IMO.  Also 8 conference games in January.  Big difference in missing 2 of those vs. 6.

This isn't the NHL...Boeser's a college student and it was his decision. He has much more info than we do, and did what he thought would be best. If time off helped, he could've been back before the break. I'm sure he's really disappointed in missing the WJC, but if he can be back to 100% for a stretch run that would be great. 

Many UND teams have learned how to win while some star players were injured. I'm hoping that'll be the case here.

[tnt]

I wonder when the actual injury occurred.   I remember Boeser going ballistic and getting a penalty earlier this year after he had been slashed.  Wonder if it happened way back then. 

[yzerman19]

5 minutes ago, tnt said:

I wonder when the actual injury occurred.   I remember Boeser going ballistic and getting a penalty earlier this year after he had been slashed.  Wonder if it happened way back then. 

Sounds like it was nagging from the get go- but if someone slashed my already hurt wrist,I might go bananas too

[I Ranger]

25 minutes ago, yzerman19 said:

Sounds like it was nagging from the get go- but if someone slashed my already hurt wrist,I might go bananas too

Yes it happened quite a while ago. He was in for an MRI in October so he played through it for quite a while and it got more and more noticeable each week. I thought he really struggled with it in Duluth.