No goalie feels more pressure at the world junior hockey championship than sa国际传媒's starter, says the man cultivating the next one.
Ron Tugnutt is the Canadian team's goaltending coach and has personally experienced that kind of pressure. In addition to a long NHL career, Tugnutt twice represented sa国际传媒 at the men's world championship.
"There's a lot more pressure on our goalie than on the other teams," Tugnutt said Tuesday at selection camp in Calgary.
When European teams win the semifinal, they're thrilled at the prospect of "at least" a silver medal, but Canadian players aren't interested in anything but gold, he explained.
"When we win the semi-final game, we're only thinking one thing," Tugnutt added.
With no incumbent from the previous world junior championship, a major subplot of the selection camp in Calgary this week is who will be sa国际传媒's starter, backup and alternate at the 2013 world junior championship starting Dec. 26 in Ufa, Russia.
In a new development, sa国际传媒 will take a third goaltender as insurance against injury because of the travel time required to get to south-central Russia.
Malcolm Subban of the Belleville Bulls, Laurent Brossoit of the Edmonton Oil Kings, Jordan Binning-ton of the Owen Sound Attack and Jake Paterson of the Saginaw Spirit are the four invitees. There's little time for them to impress head coach Steve Spott as the 23-player team will be finalized Thursday afternoon.
Spott tried to dampen speculation that Subban, the younger brother of Montreal Canadiens defence-man P.K. Subban, has the inside track on the starting job because he plays on European-sized ice at Belleville's Yardman Arena.
After four years on North American ice, the world junior tournament returns to a surface four metres wider with just over a half-metre more space between the back of the net and the end boards.
"Contrary to belief, there's no starting job being given out, I can tell you guys that," Spott told reporters Tuesday. "That's going to be a really good subplot to this training camp, to see which guys we take over. That third goalie is a unique position. He may not see any action at all."
Tugnutt says Subban's big-ice experience is one check mark in his favour.
"I know myself as a goalie I struggled with the bigger ice," Tugnutt said. "I think it is an advantage for him just because it is a different visual. He sees it every day. But that's not going to be the determining factor on what happens here."
Here's a look at the four goaltenders invited:
- Malcolm Subban: The six-foot-two, 201-pound Toronto native has some of the flamboyance of his older brother, according to Tugnutt. The first-round pick of the Boston Bruins posted a 15-7-3 record with Belleville. "He's extremely athletic. You think you have an easy goal and it's taken away," Tugnutt said.
- Laurent Brossoit: Calgary Flames draft pick led the Edmonton Oil Kings to a Western Hockey League championship last season. Fills the net at six foot three and 200 pounds and is 12-42-3 so far this season with the Oil Kings. "A big, strong, physical kid who is great around his crease," Tugnutt said. "He's got all the tools necessary to make it to the next level."
- Jordan Binnington: Owen Sound Attack goalie has moxie. When he was left off the junior team that played a summer series against Russia, Binnington told Tugnutt "you're making a mistake." The St. Louis Blues prospect had a strong start to the season with a 17-6-1-2 record and 2.07 goals-against average.
- Jake Paterson: The lone 18-year-old in the bunch, Paterson plays behind a young Saginaw Spirit team and faces a lot of rubber.
The Detroit Red Wings draft pick lacks the international experience of the other three invitees. "From what I've heard, I've heard Malcolm is probably the No. 1 guy heading into camp, but I think it's really up in the air as to which goalies are going to get selected to the team," Paterson said.
