The World Junior “A” Hockey Challenge was held this past week and Team Canada West came out on top with a 4-2 victory over Team Canada East for the gold medal.
Team Canada West had the most Hockey East recruits with two, Evan Richardson (Boston College) and Wesley Myron (Boston University). In the tournament, Richardson had a goal and assist in five games while his future rival Myron had one assist in five contests.
On Canada East, the team was led by University of Maine recruit Devin Shore who had two goals and four assists in four games. I talked to Frank Robertson, the Whitby Fury President and General Manager and he said Shore still hasn’t made up his mind if he’s heading to the Black Bears in 2012 or 2013.
Shore was also named the to the All-Tournament Team and he was the lone Hockey East recruit on Team Canada’s roster.
There was high expectations for the American squad as they had a high number of NHL Draft picks and players eligible for the upcoming draft. They ended up with the Bronze medal after defeating Sweden 4-0 Saturday night.
The lone Hockey East recruit was Austin Cangelosi of the Youngstown Phantoms will be going to Boston College in 2013. He had a solid tournament as he put up a goal and two assists in five contests.
NTDP U-17 and U-18 teams win respective four nations tournaments
The Under-18 team won the Four nations tournament that was held in Monthey, Switzerland. They went 3-0 defeating Switzerland, Finland, and Sweden. They also defeated Switzerland in a exhibition before the tournament.
Boston College recruit Frank Vatrano had a goal and an assist in four games while Northeastern recruit Cam Darcy had an assist. Other Hockey East recruits on the Under-18 team include Brendan Silk (Boston College) and Matt Grzelczyk (Boston University).
Matt Lane who announced he committed Boston University on twitter last night had two goals and an assist. On the year he has five goals and four assists in 17 games.
The Under-17 team also went 3-0 defeating Slovakia, Switzerland, and Russia in Balashinkha, Russia. They defeated Russia in an exhibition game also. Tyler Kelleher, a New Hampshire recruit had four goals and two assists in four game while Boston College recruit Steve Santini had two assists in four matches. Fellow Boston College recruit Scott Savage had no points in the tournament.
Another Quebec stud heading to the NCAA route?
The Dubuque Fighting Saints of the USHL had Jonathan Drouin in town earlier this month to show him around and potentially bring him in for next season. The 16-year-old was the second overall pick by the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in June.
He was scheduled to join the Mooseheads, but had second thoughts right before the start of their training camp and headed back to his midget team, the Lac St. Louis Lions. So far he has 45 points in 16 games.
Could he follow the same development path as Dubuque Fighting Saints defenseman Michael Matheson who also played a extra year of midget with the Lac St. Louis Lions then heading to the USHL? Maybe even to Boston College?
Who know.
In all likely hood Drouin will end up with the Mooseheads as he visited Halifax this past weekend and the latest rumor is he may join them by or after Christmas.
At the same time, there’s a small glimmer of hope that he chooses the NCAA route by visiting Dubuque.