Canadian World Junior Hockey Camp Opens

[RichH]

I'm definitely in the same camp as Keith, Age, and Grant.  From the first month of watching him last season, Pokulok had my attention.  Over the years, Cornell has had some players who would constantly cough up the puck with seemingly every touch (jeffoates *cough*).  The freshman Sasha was the exact opposite.  When he got the puck in traffic, he always seemed to find a way to weave, spin, dodge, and weasel his way through opponent challenges and always maintained puck control.  Positionally, he was just outstanding.  A few weeks ago, I re-watched part of the the NCAA regional vs. tOSU. Even after the injury, he still did things that impressed me in that game.

This season, I don't know what's been up.  Maybe he's been trying to change his game...I know some criticized his lack of physical play.  Maybe the off-season conditioning threw him off-kilter.  But something certainly has changed for the worse.

[ebilmes]

I saw Pokulok at Yale and he was by far our best defenseman that game. I left feeling that he was 100% and would be a major contributer this season. Since then, though, it sounds like he hasn't been that impressive. I think I'm with the majority in that I believe Pokulok has a lot of talent; hopefully this stint will get him motivated and back on track.

[ninian '72]

[quote Tub(a)]

He was indeed amazing until hurt. Sometimes it takes players a long time to recover from an injury like that, and sometimes they never do.[/quote]

I've been through this one.  You can't set a collarbone.  You have to immobilize the arm while the broken halves grow some tissue across the gap that eventually calcifies.  Usually this means at least 4 months without the kind of physical jolting that's typical in hockey.  I was amazed to see him back at all last season. The bone will not reheal in exactly the same shape/length, which affects how the muscles and bones in your upper body work together.  Requires some PT over time.  I broke mine in a car accident in 2001 and still feel some aching at the site of the break, and there's some impact on the flexibility in my upper back.  If Sasha's experience is at all close to mine, it's not surprising that his acrobatics have been affected.  Not to say that with good PT over time he won't be back in form, but it takes awhile.

[bigred06]

Does anybody know if any wjc games will be on TV in Ithaca?

[cth95]

I don't know about TV, but I am close enough to Canada to get the TEAM 990 AM radio station from Montreal which plays the games.  I don't know if they have a web stream, but I am sure that there may be a couple other Canadian stations that carry the games as well.  If you look you may find a web broadcast.

[Tub(a)]

[quote bigred06]Does anybody know if any wjc games will be on TV in Ithaca?[/quote]

Center Ice is showing the USA games if you can find someone with that.

[cth95]

More info here:  www.usahockey.com

[ajec1]

[quote Tub(a)][quote bigred06]Does anybody know if any wjc games will be on TV in Ithaca?[/quote]

Center Ice is showing the USA games if you can find someone with that.[/quote]

If you have the sports package on satellite and get FSN North, they will be showing the US-Canada game on Saturday (7PM EST). I would guess that they would also broadcast the other US games, especially those in the medal round.

[CowbellGuy]

Other than repeating it on a couple other FSNs on Monday, there's no sign of any more games being shown.

[cbuckser]

According to the Dec. 21 USA Hockey press release, Fox Sports Net North will show, on tape delay, the USA-Canada game and Team USA's games in the semifinals and gold-medal game, if Team USA advances to those games.
http://www.usahockey.com/usa_hockey/news/main/home/news_wjccov_122205//

[kaaren]

The US world junior team is leading Switzerland by 2 in the middle of the second period.  The live FREE audio link is available NOW (LIVE) on the first page of www.usahockey.com.

[kaaren]

Switzerland just scored on the PP.  12 minutes left in the third.

USA 2 - Switzerland 1

[kaaren]

Switzerland ties the game at 2 on a 5 × 3.

[kaaren]

Game ends in a tie at 2.

[cbuckser]

Did Brent Sutter give Sasha Pokulok any shifts toward the end of last night's game?