Canada Juniors Roster: A look at the Goalies
 |
Jake Allen, a 2nd round draft pick of the St. Louis Blues currently plays in the QMJHL for the Montreal Junior. Allen’s biggest asset is his excellent positional play, and his ability to control rebounds. He also has International experience with Team Canada, playing for the U18 team in 2007. | |
 |
Olivier Roy, a 5th round draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers currently plays for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles of the QMJHL. Roy is almost the complete opposite of Allen. Where Allen relies on strong positional play, Roy prefers the butterfly style of goaltending and loves to challenge the shooters. He’ll sometimes take chances, but his athleticism allows him to recover quickly. | |
 |
Matt Hackett, a 3rd round draft pick of the Minnesota Wild currently plays for the Plymouth Whalers of the OHL. Hackett is a big goalie that uses his size well in between the pipes. He also has excellent positioning skills. It doesn’t hurt that his uncle (Jeff) played numerous years in the NHL and is currently an NHL goalie coach for the Colorado Avalanche. | |
 |
Martin Jones, an undrafted free-agent picked up by the Los Angeles Kings currently plays for the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL. Jones had perhaps one of the best statistical seasons for any goalie playing Junior hockey last year. His record of 45-5-4 is simply amazing, but many believe was a product of his surrounding team mates. Nonetheless, Jones (like Hackett) is another big goalie who occupies a lot of space and uses it well in the net. | |
The Team Canada Hockey executive has a tough decision ahead of them as all 4 goalies can play well when they need to. In my opinion, Jake Allen and Matt Hackett will be the goalies chosen to represent Canada and split time for the preliminary games. Goaltenders that possess strong positional skills generally fit well in Canada’s defensive systems . Typically a Team Canada goalie has two tasks: Get in front of the puck, and control the rebounds. Allen excels in both areas. With Allen’s experience and abilities, I believe he will be chosen as the goalie to play in the medal rounds for Team Canada and hopefully lead us to a gold medal.
What do you think?
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment