Hockey

Evaluation Camp Provides Crucial Opportunity in Assembling National Junior Team


Adjustments to make the world tournament as safe as possible will increase the time commitment away from their college and junior teams for the players and staff who make the trip to Canada.

“We’ve been told we enter the bubble Dec. 13, so that’s our plan,” Leaman said. “… We’re only going to get about four to six games of evaluation of guys in college. The guys who are in junior hockey, we may not get any evaluation time, so this camp was extremely important.” 

Leaman, who won a Division I national championship at Providence in 2015, said building a tournament team to represent the nation is different than that process was. Versatility will be at a premium both from individual players and in the overall roster.

“I’ve watched some of the [World Junior] games from the year before to try to think what would win this tournament,” Leaman said. “These tournaments are much different than a college season.

“It’s basically a one-shot against everybody so your game plan and your identity is maybe a little bit different than the patience of a college season and building up to be great in the second half of the season.”

Leaman hopes players left camp with an idea of what the team will look like if they are fortunate enough to make the final roster. Vanbiesbrouck and Leaman both praised the energy the players brought to the battle for roster spots.

Leaman knows at least one area he wants to see that intensity stand out in December and January.

“One of the things we really want is to get to the net,” he said. “We’ve been sharing with guys individually clips of how they get to the net. Are we stopping there? Are we planting there? Are we making it hard for the elite goaltenders in the world?”

That will be one of the many questions the group collectively tries to answer in two months time.

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.





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