The 2009 World Junior Tournament begins Friday in Ottawa with the U.S. facing Germany and Canada matched up with the Czech Republic. We have a bundle of links to help you follow and enjoy the tournament, beginning with official sites of the IIHF, host Canada and USA Hockey. USA Hockey provides a 90-page media guide with team bios, historical data and records. Also on the USA Hockey WJC page is an All-Access Pass with links to a Q&A interview with Team USA Coach Ron Rolston and video highlights beginning with the team’s camp at Lake Placid, and continuing with exhibition and tournament games.
Terriers sophomores Colin Wilson and Kevin Shattenkirk, first round draft choices respectively of Nashville (2008) and Colorado (2007), have been named assistant captains for Team USA. Defenseman Jonathon Blum of Vancouver/WHL is team captain. NHL.com provides a preview of Team USA, while Team Canada is preview by HockeysFuture.com. More previews are here. Canadian Press offers capsules of all tournament teams. Wilson, born in the U.S., but raised in Canada, spoke with The Sporting News by cell after a practice in Lake Placid, N.Y. about the prospect of playing in the WJCs in Canada:
It's the Super Bowl in Canada. It's something I wish people were paying a little more attention to here. Everybody is a world-class athlete on our team, and they're used to the pressure. Because they do well with pressure, more media and more attention, it could raise our game a little bit.
That's likely to happen because NHL Network will broadcast all U.S. and Canadian preliminary round games and all medal round games.
Team USA had its offense flying in Sunday’s 13-2 exhibition win against Latvia with nine players scoring goals. Shattenkirk tallied four assists while Wilson scored a goal and had three helpers. His goal is the third one in this highlights video. Wilson, who led team USA in goals scored at last year’s WJCs, has been reunited by Coach Rolston with UNH’s James VanRiemsdyk and Minnesota’s Jordan Schroeder on the team’s top line. A second exhibition is scheduled tonight against Russia. We’ll update this post with results later tonight.
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