I am VERY SURPRISED that Murray didn't make the squad. Depres didn't deserve to make the squad from what I have heard. I would've also loved to see RNH there as well and i agree with your assessment of the forwards being redundant. I think Canada will regret not taking Murray and RNH. It seems that each year Canada makes the mistake of taking the elder kids (yes it's a 20year tournament but 1-2 17year olds will only help in providing energy and prepare them for the future IMO).
Big Ev,
- Barrie provides offensive abilities but isn't bad at shutting down opponents either. He brings a lot of experience.
- Foligno was born in the USA but has dual citizenship and chose to play for Canada. That has to be motivation for him in this tournament held on US soil.
I am interested to see how our Goalies do. Not one goalie really stepped up in the final camp so it will be interesting to see who steps up here. Hopefully our goaltending doesn't suck too bad and someone has a huge camp. It's not surprising after mediocre goaltending in camp that the coaches desided to go with familiarity in Visentine (plays against him in the OHL) and Roy
Predictions:
one of Jaden Schwartz, Leblanc or Couturier will be the story of the tournament for the Canadians
Brett Connolly's stock will also rise
Ryan Ellis will log a tonne of ice as our leader and most experience dman
Our goaltending will be what let's us down if anything does.