Page 39 - Mark Masters News Today

Photo by Kevin Light/Getty Images Topi Niemelä Niemela started the game on the third pair with Eemil Viro, but was put on the first power play unit and was given spot shifts higher up the lineup with fellow Leaf Mikko Kokkonen and Ville Heinola. By the end of the game when Finland was trying to tie a 3-2 game, he was moved up permanently to the top pair to get maximum offense. Finland is basically using him as a Travis Dermott. In terms of highlights, Niemela set up the first goal of the game ...

Growing up in the Montreal area, Devon Levi met Roberto Luongo at a goalie camp. "I remember seeing him in the rink and I went up to him and I wanted to introduce myself," Levi said. "He shook my hand with two fingers, because my hand was only as big as his two fingers. It was an unbelievable experience. He was one of my idols." So, when the Panthers selected Levi in the seventh round, 212th overall, during Octobers National Hockey League draft, it was a thrill not only to hear his name called,...

Team Canada practised on Monday inside the Edmonton bubble.  Quinton Byfield arrived at Canadas World Junior selection camp as one of the most hyped players. The Sudbury Wolves centre, a tantalizing mix of size, speed and skill, had just gone second overall to the Los Angeles Kings in the National Hockey League draft making him the highest pick on a Canadian roster overflowing with talent. But Byfield struggled to get up to speed early on. "Going through nine months of not being on the ice too...

Cole Perfetti always loved watching the World Juniors. Until last year. "I tried to watch the first game and every time I looked at the screen it was just a constant reminder that I got cut and its hard to do that to yourself and sit through the pain," the Saginaw Spirit forward admitted​. "I kept up on it on Twitter and stuff, but didnt really watch it. I couldnt bring myself to watch it knowing I was so close to that team and came up short." Its not easy for draft-eligible players to make T...

Team Canada practised inside the Edmonton bubble on Saturday. Theyre probably not destined for a Matthew Tkachuk versus Zack Kassian type feud, but one day soon Oilers 2020 first rounder Dylan Holloway and Flames 2019 first rounder Jakob Pelletier hope to be part of the Battle of Alberta. For now, though, they are joining forces on what is shaping up to be a key line for Team Canada at the World Juniors​. Will it be harder to hate each other in the NHL one day if they win gold together? "I t...

Team Canada held its first practice inside the Edmonton bubble on Friday. At the end of Fridays practice, their first inside the Edmonton bubble, Team Canada gathered at one end of the ice and players were told to look up for a special message. Moments later, Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who won a gold medal at the 2015 World Juniors in Toronto, appeared on the video board. ​ "Theres nothing more special than winning a gold medal on Canadian soil so hopefully you can defend it and do Edmon...

  EDMONTON -- Dylan Holloway has received a few interesting phone calls over the last few months. The first two came after the Edmonton Oilers picked him in the first round of the NHL draft in October. “Right after the draft McDavid called me, so that was pretty special...right after that Gretzky called me,” Holloway recently told TSN’s Mark Masters. Last week, it was Holloway’s mother on the end of the line who delivered the news that he made the cut for Team Canada’s World Juni...

B5Q Blogopean Union: would you watch Scary Alvarez’s News Network? Share this story Photo by NBC NewsWire/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images Good morning! This is going to be a daily(ish) post that discusses the goings on of the rest of the Big Ten Conference, and the country as needed. Much like the European Union, the Big Ten is a loosely confederated group of entities that sometimes have the same goals (like free movement of people between countries or not winni...

TSN Hockey Reporter Mark Masters reports on the World Junior Hockey Championship. Team Canada practised on Saturday at the Westerner Park Centrium in Red Deer, Alta.  On Team Canadas stacked roster nobody scored more last season than Jack Quinn who potted a whopping 52 goals in 62 games with the Ottawa 67s. And yet Quinn had never been invited to a Hockey Canada event before the World Junior selection camp. As a result, Team Canada head coach Andre Tourigny felt Quinn was trying t...