The Canadian team will be a lot different from last years gold medal winning team, of the 18 players that Hockey Canada has named only three were on the team last season, The roster will be made up of almost all NHL player. Unlike their neighbors to the south who have been going with a younger roster in recent years Canada has been picking the best available players who are out of the NHL playoffs and would like to play in the World Championships. One issue that they face is that the World Cup will be played right before the start of the season, for this reason some players have turned down invitations because they would like to be rested for the World Cup. The team does have some young exciting player on the roster including last years number one pick in the NHL draft Connor McDavid.
Icehockey.hu had a opportunity catch up with Scott Salmond who has been the manager for the Canadian national team for better part of the past 15 years. Salmond gave some insight to how the roster has been put together as well as some words on Connor McDavid and Frank Banham.
What is the goal of the Canadian team for the world championships?
This year like every other year we only have one goal and that is to bring back the gold medal from the world championships.
How much does the World Cup impact this year’s World Championship roster?
The roster is both positively and negatively impacted, some guys don’t feel they can or are not prepared to play in both tournaments and will choose to play in only one or possibly only in the World Cup. Then there are other players who are hoping to showcase themselves during the World Championships in hopes of getting picked for the World Cup roster, we have 16 guys already selected with seven spots still open.
How do you compare playing in the World Championships for a Canadian player versus someone who is from Sweden or Russia representing their home country?
This is an interesting question, the way I look at it is that a hockey player is a hockey player and they want to play games, if you want to win the Stanley Cup you want to play games in June. All hockey players want to be playing hockey in April, May and June, regardless of it being in the Stanley Cup playoffs or in the World Championships for your country. That's what hockey stars do, they play hockey and try to win, if you can’t win the Stanley Cup might as well win a World Championships, that's the mindset of Canadians. We have to respect that players have had long seasons, that they have had injuries, in the end it’s a personal decision for the players. We have been fortunate in Canada that players want to play in the NHL but also want to represent Canada at the U18 and U20 level as well as the Olympic Games, I think we have the pride of playing for your country as well.
What type of hockey, and what type of style of play can people expect from the Canadian national team?
Speed and skill, and to play defensively. I are not looking for one dimensional players but for ones that not only have speed and skills but are also responsible enough to play defense and play a team game. We do have a young roster but we also have international experience. I like where this group is and what we have collectively.
How special of a player is Connor McDavid?
He is an exciting young player and he will be an important part of this team just like he has been an important player on any team he has ever played on. He won a gold medal at the U18 world championships as well as at the U20 world championships and I’m sure he would like to add to that collection. We are fortunate to have him, he is a great kid and great player, and great representative of Hockey Canada.
In 2009 Hungary lost to Canada 9-0, is this game ever mentioned at all and also how is Canada preparing to face Hungary early on in the tournament?
I have actually been in Hungary twice and I was with the team when we had a training camp before the 2004 world championship, which we ended up winning. I was also in Hungary during an international break with Canada as well. I have great respect for Zoltán Kovács and others in Hungary that are doing a great job in developing Hungarian hockey. Regardless of the competition we will be preparing the same way for every game. The 12:00 noon faceoff will be a bit of a challenge for us since we don’t usually play games at noon in Canada so that is a challenge. We will be coming off of a day off following a game against the U.S. and then heading into back to back games against Hungary and Belarus. All the games are important to us, in terms of scheduling this is an important game for us.
There is one player on the Hungarian team, Frank Banham who has played for Canada two separate times, during the 2000-01 season as well as the 2004-05 season when you happened to be working with the Canadian national team, how well do you know him and what can you say about him?
Frankie Banham, I love him :) they called him “The Wild Man” he is awesome, I still stay in touch with him and talk to him during the offseason. He is the heart and soul of any team he is on, of course I know Frankie. He played for Canada a couple of times and was really good. He is a great player to watch who completed a lot and give it his all, I always have time for him.
Roster
Goalies (2): Calvin Pickard (Avalanche, NHL), Cam Talbot (Oilers, NHL)
Defensmen (7): Cody Ceci (Senators, NHL), Matt Dumba (Wild, NHL), Ben Hutton, Christopher Tanev (Canucks, NHL), Michael Matheson (Portland, AHL), Ryan Murray (Blue Jackets, NHL), Morgan Rielly (Maple Leafs, NHL)
Forwards (13): Derek Brassard (Rangers, NHL), Max Domi (Coyotes, NHL), Matt Duchene (Avalanche, NHL), Brendan Gallagher (Canadiens, NHL), Taylor Hall, Connor McDavid (Oilers, NHL), Boone Jenner (Blue Jackets, NHL), Brad Marchand (Bruins, NHL), Ryan O'Reilly, Sam Reinhart (Sabers, NHL), Corey Perry (Ducks, NHL), Mark Scheifele (Jets, NHL), Mark Stone (Senators, NHL)
Coaching Staff:
Head coach: Bill Peter (Hurricanes, NHL)
Assistant coaches: Dave Cameron (Senators, NHL), Mike Yeo,
Video coaches: Andrew Brewer (Maple Leafs, NHL), Misha Donskov
HUNGARIAN ROSTER
Goalies (3): HETÉNYI Zoltán, RAJNA Miklós (Fehérvár AV19), VAY Ádám (Debreceni HK)
Defencemen (8): SZIRÁNYI Bence, WEHRS Kevin (Fehérvár), GARÁT Zsombor, MESTYÁN István, STIPSICZ Bence (MAC), DUDÁS Jesse, SAGERT Kalvin, (DVTK), VAS Márton (Fassa)
Forwards (16): BANHAM Frank, BARTALIS István, BENK András, KOVÁCS Csaba, KÓGER Dániel, NAGY Gergő, SARAUER Andrew (Fehérvár) ERDÉLY Csanád (Sioux Falls), GALLÓ Vilmos (Linköping), MAGOSI Bálint (Briancon), NAGY Krisztián (MAC), SEBŐK Balázs (KalPa), SOFRON István (Klagenfurt), VAS János (Slavia Praha)
World Championships, Russia, Group B (St. Petersburg)
May 7th, 12.15 (11.15): Slovakia–HUNGARY
May 8th, 12.15 (11.15): HUNGARY–Canada
May 10th, 20.15 (19.15): HUNGARY–France
May 11th, 20.15 (19.15): Finland–HUNGARY
May 13th, 16.15 (15.15): USA–HUNGARY
May 14th, 16.15 (15.15): HUNGARY–Belarus
May 16th, 20.15 (19.15): Germany–HUNGARY