Welcome one and all to the third edition of The Junior Report!

Are we expecting to much out of Team Canada? Every year  we have a Gold or Bust mentality. Is it fair to put that kind of pressure on kids that were born during the WWF’s New Generation Era? To be fair we have sent the 2nd youngest team ever (next to the 1987 team but more on them later). So do we just expect to much, so when they lose like they did today we automatically hit the panic button? If you didnt get a chance to catch the game Canada dropped a 5-4 decision to the Czech Republic in a shootout and never had the lead in the game as they were always playing catch-up.

Im not sure if I would be hitting the panic button just yet but I have my keys ready in the glass case. First off let’s start with the Goaltender  Jake Paterson (80th Overall 2012 Detroit Red Wings) he wasn’t solid when he needed to be and let in some soft goals especially during the shootout.    Im expecting Zach Fucale (36th Overall 2013 Montreal Canadians) to get the nod Monday when they take on Slovakia. Speaking of the Slovakia game we need to see a 60 minute dominating performance from Canada if they want to have any hope against the Americans on New Year’s Eve. Canada showed a lot of good today and a lot of bad. I think they are playing to fancy of a game. Trying to be to cute with to much passing. Shoot the Puck get those garbage goals crash the net. Last games hero Anthony Mantha (20th Overall 2013 Detroit Red Wings) took a bad too many men penalty that while resulted in  a short handed goal also gave the Czech’s a powerplay goal. Connor McDavid (Eligible 2015)  sat in the sin bin on two occasions and thus didn’t see much playing action in the third until he was called upon to save the game during the shootout and came up short.

Russia,Sweden. and the USA are the pinnacle teams right now  and if Canada hopes to pass them all the way to Gold then a performance like today won’t do. This is a young team yes and they are bound to make mistakes. Let’s consider today’s game the mistake and play mistake free hockey from here on out. I believe pressure is good I believe that we should live by The Gold Standard. (Not Shelton Benjamin). These kids have grown up knowing the pressure that comes along with this tournament. Also if they hope to make the NHL the pressure is always on 24/7. Despite being  one of the youngest team’s Canada has a lot of talent on it and it’s now about time to show off that talent.

As I Mentioned in my previous edition of the Junior Report I said I wanted to do more then play-by-play and bring something different to the BoredHockeyFan.com Universe. So I will also be writing a new non game day article The first edition will be called “O Captain, My Captain” We will take a look on the last 10 players who donned a “C” for Team Canada and see what they are doing today. Look for The Junior Report Extra Edition! coming up early tomorrow morning right here on BoredHockeyFan.com.

For BoredHockeyFan.com I’m Dan Thompson and that’s my story and i’m sticking to it.