Thursday notes

Final cuts are in from the Canadian World Junior camp, and it's bad news for the WHL as seven of the thirteen cuts are from the 'dub. Both WHL goalies - Leland Irving and Tyson Sexsmith - got the axe, as did defencemen Keaton Ellerby and Ty Wishart and forwards Zach Hamill, Dana Tyrell, and Ryan White. That removes both Everett Silvertips and both Prince George Cougars players from the team.

With those cuts, the Canadian roster for this year's WJCs is:

Goaltenders:
Jonathan Bernier (QMJHL)
Steve Mason (OHL)

Defencemen:
Karl Alzner (WHL)
Drew Doughty (OHL)
Josh Godfrey (OHL)
Thomas Hickey (WHL)
Logan Pyett (WHL)
Luke Schenn (WHL)
P.K. Subban (OHL)

Forwards:
Zach Boychuk (WHL)
Colton Gillies (WHL)
Claude Giroux (QMJHL)
Matthew Halischuk (OHL)
Riley Holzapfel (WHL)
Stefan Legein (OHL)
Brad Marchand (QMJHL)
Shawn Matthias (OHL)
Wayne Simmonds (OHL)
Steven Stamkos (OHL)
Brandon Sutter (WHL)
John Tavares (OHL)
Kyle Turris (NCAA)

I have updated the "who's away this month" post below with the WHL's cuts.

And while we're talking about World Juniors, how about an update on how the WHL's players at the two B-pool championships are doing.....Spokane's Stefan Ulmer and his Austrian team are in first place at 4-0 in the B-pool tournament in Germany, and the stage seems set for a Saturday showdown with Prince Albert's Max Brandl and Germany (3-0) in the final game for both teams. These tournaments use a straight round-robin, no playoffs - best team at the end of the round-robin wins the tournament and gets promotion to the A-pool for next year. Assuming Germany beats Ukraine today to move to 4-0 with Austria, that game between the two teams on Saturday will determine first place.

Speaking of Ukraine though.....they are in last place and have been beaten by Norway and Lithuania. Didn't the Ukraine use to produce a number of good players on the old Soviet teams? How come now that the USSR has fallen apart, Ukraine no longer produces any good hockey players? I mean, if they finish last in this thing, they'll get relegated to the C-pool with the likes of Iceland, Romania, and Mexico....and I'm pretty sure the 12 year olds on my community pond could give the Mexican national U-20 team a run for their money.

Anyway, Ulmer has two points (1g-1a) and a +4, with 6 PIM, in Austria's 4 wins. Brandl has one goal, a +2, and 16 PIM in Germany's three wins.

In the other B-pool championship now underway in Latvia, Calgary's Bostjan Golicic had one goal and 12 PIM as he and his Slovenia teammates started the tournament with a shootout win over Great Britain. Golicic's goal actually was the one that tied the game for the Slovenians with 10 minutes left in the 3rd period and helped send the game to overtime and then the shootout.