CHL and Canada look to return to winning ways
By Patrick King for the Canadian Hockey League
A winning culture will be bred for Hockey Canada’s World Junior entry at the 2013 SUBWAY Super Series.
The Canadian Hockey League teams will look to defend home soil against the Russian National Junior team, while regaining the edge in this series after last year’s narrow 10-8 defeat, and building towards another gold medal at the World Juniors in Sweden in January.
“We want to win,” exclaimed Ryan Jankowski, Head Scout for Canada’s National World Junior team. “You want to start giving your players confidence to win at the international level and to beat the Russians, but you’re also making a statement to the Russian players as well. You definitely want to start a winning culture here at this event, and have that carry over to the World Juniors.”
Now in its 11th installment, the CHL all-star teams hold the historical edge with eight series victories to the Russians’ two. The Russians, however, won last year’s competition and two of the last three as the SUBWAY Super Series continues to build in its importance for both countries.
The level of competition the Russians send for this event gives Hockey Canada a unique opportunity in evaluating how CHL players perform against a different playing style in advance of naming the World Junior selection camp roster in December.
“It’s not the typical CHL game,” Jankowski explained. “No matter who the Russians send, we know they’re going to be able to skate, we know they’ve got skill and we know they play a Russian style of hockey. There’s an adjustment to that. There’s no doubt we want to play our style of game – we want to play a Canadian style, but it’s different when playing a team that stretches the ice the way the Russians do with their speed and their size and their skill.
“No matter what type of team they send, it’s going to be an adjustment for our players and we want to see who handles that adjustment the best.”
The SUBWAY Super Series was decided in the final game in two of the last three years. A 5-2 Team Russia victory over Team WHL in 2010 gave the Russians their first series victory, while their second series victory came following a 5-2 win in the finale of last year’s event.
The event begins two weeks later than normal this year, which will give Hockey Canada its last viewing of certain players ahead of naming the selection camp roster.
As if beating Canada’s longest historic rival isn’t enough motivation, some players’ performance in the SUBWAY Super Series could determine whether they’re invited to Hockey Canada’s selection camp.
“You don’t want to put too much stock into the two games (per league), but it’s still good to see who raises their level and who’s able to compete in the higher, tougher games,” Jankowski said. “The SUBWAY Super Series games are used as kind of the make-it-or-break-it, especially for the bubble players.”
The onus is on the players to represent their leagues proudly, while showing Jankowski and his group at Hockey Canada why they’re deserving of consideration for a camp invitation.
In many instances, Hockey Canada has already identified which role a player fits for the roster they plan on taking to Sweden shortly before Christmas.
“We’ve got our depth chart, we’ve got our style of play based on the group of players that we have and some of these players who are so-called ‘on the bubble’ as the SUBWAY Super Series begins are going to have to mimic their role that they’ll have at the World Juniors,” Jankowski said. “Whether it’s trying players out of position or asking them to be more offensive, more defensive – whatever it is – we will start doing a lot of that and playing players in different situations that will be very similar to what we expect for them with the World Junior team.”
The coaching staff for each team, which includes Canada’s World Junior Head Coach Brent Sutter (Team WHL), Assistant Coach Ryan McGill (Team WHL) and Assistant Coach Benoît Groulx (Team QMJHL), will also have the opportunity to change the players’ roles during the game, based on their feel.
“I give full power and credibility to the coaches to make any adjustments that they feel they need to make based on what they see,” Jankowski said.
All six games will be broadcast nationally on Sportsnet.
The 2013 SUBWAY Super Series schedule is as follows:
Game 1 – Monday, November 18 at Gatineau, Quebec
Game 2 – Wednesday, November 20 at Sherbrooke, Quebec
Game 3 – Thursday, November 21 at Oshawa, Ontario
Game 4 – Monday, November 25 at Sudbury, Ontario
Game 5 – Wednesday, November 27 at Red Deer, Alberta
Game 6 – Thursday, November 28 at Lethbridge, Alberta
For more information please visit www.subwaysuperseries.ca.