Canada world junior hockey team players Ryan Johansen, left, Jared Cowan, centre, and Brett Connolly, right, joke around at the annual team picture in Toronto on Wednesday, December 15, 2010NATHAN DENETTE
One team is big down the middle, quick and experienced on the wings with the size and speed extending to the defence.
The other team is much shorter on experience, not to mention offence, but with some size and speed plus a strong work ethic that gives it hope a hard-nosed effort will produce an upset.
We're talking Canada and the United States, in that order, right?
Well, in most years of the world junior hockey championship, that would be the case. This time around, though, it is the Americans who will open the tournament on Sunday as the talented favourites with the Canadians as the scrappy underdogs, which is not a bad thing for those trying to sell hockey south of the border.
A year ago in Saskatoon, the United States upset a Canadian team that boasted such stars as Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall with an overtime win in the gold-medal game. This time around, the Americans are on their own turf in Buffalo, albeit with a large number of Canadian fans in the seats at HSBC Arena. The Americans are also conceded to have the most talented team, one that even boasts two sons and one nephew of former NHL players, not to mention nine NHL first-round draft picks and nine more second-rounders.
Even better from the standpoint of USA Hockey, which is finally seeing the fruits of a renovation to its development program in 1996, a significant number of players come from non-traditional hockey markets. A couple of the best forwards, Jason Zucker and Chris Brown, hail from the hockey hotbeds of Las Vegas and Flower Mound, Tex., respectively. There are also four players from California.
"It is a big stage, but I think more and more of our guys are ready for that stage," said Jim Johannson, Team USA's general manager. He added that Hockey USA's goal for the world championship is twofold: First, to defend the gold medal, and second, to show the public that American players are ready to take their place with Canada at the top of the hockey world.
"That was one of the things instilled during our [pretournament]camp," Johannson said. "In the bigger picture, from a USA Hockey standpoint, we take some pride in that, in how the players in our program are thought of. It is something to strive for."
The U.S. head coach, though, is not wild about all the talk of his team as the favourite. When it is mentioned the Canadians like to call themselves "a lunch-pail team," Keith Allain, whose day job is head coach of the Yale University men's hockey team, argues the term should apply to his team, too.
"I think every coach wants their team to be a lunch-bucket team," Allain said. "Let's face it, that means you have a group of guys who want to work hard."
The experts say the Americans will play hard, but they also say they have the most talent along with a big dose of size and speed. Just as important in this tournament is experience, and the Americans have eight players back from last year's championship team, compared to four returnees for Canada.
"From a confidence standpoint, they certainly have that," Kevin Prendergast, men's head scout for Hockey Canada, said of the American veterans. "They also have a lot of size down the middle with lots of speed. And they have a mobile defence that is able to move the puck."
Leading the way up front is winger Jeremy Morin, 19, a Chicago Blackhawks prospect whom Prendergast calls "a pure goal-scorer." Also back from last year and expected to terrorize goaltenders are Kyle Palmieri, 19, a first-round pick of the Anaheim Ducks, Zucker and Chris Kreider, a first-round pick of the New York Rangers.
The only weakness anyone sees for the Americans is in goal, although that is relative. Jack Campbell, yet another first-round pick (Dallas Stars), got off to a slow start this season with his Ontario Hockey League team, the Windsor Spitfires, where he is the roommate of Canadian captain Ryan Ellis.
But Campbell is also the winning goaltender from last year. "He has experience, and the experience factor in this tournament goes a long way," Prendergast said.
Along with the underdog role for Canada is a tougher road to the medal round than the Americans'. The Canadians have the Swedes, Czechs and Russians along with them in Group B, while Americans have the Swiss, the Finns and the Slovaks as the serious contenders in their group.
"We're not going to worry about who's the team to beat, who's the favourite," Canadian forward Brayden Schenn said, noting that the Americans were not expected to win a year ago. "Anyone is capable of winning the tournament. It's all about what our team is capable of."
Prendergast, Johansson and Allain all pointed out that forgotten in the talk of a Canada-U.S. final as a fait accompli is that Russia, Sweden and Switzerland all sent strong teams.
"Russia for sure," Prendergast said when asked which team should be ranked with Canada and the United States. "They sent over a pretty good team for that Subway Series [against Canadian major junior all-star teams] So they've already played games in North America and know what to expect. They'll be a very physical team."
The final word goes to TSN broadcaster Bob McKenzie, who will be covering his 22nd world junior tournament. He echoes Schenn when it comes to assigning favourite and underdog roles.
"That whole favourite-underdog thing gets overused in this tournament because there is not a lot of separation between the teams," he said.