World Juniors

By Matthew Kredell on January 5, 2008 7:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) |

Canada won. Kings prospects Jonathan Bernier, Wayne Simmonds and Thomas Hickey get the gold, though Bernier didn't get the start in goal over the last four games of the tournament.

Kings players watched the second period of the semifinal game in the locker room Friday. The locker room was separated by nationalities. The American players had no love for Canada just because there were Kings prospects on the team.

``I wouldn't be rooting for them even if Bernier was playing,'' Patrick O'Sullivan said. ``I hate Canada.''

2 Comments

LA Kings 2010-2011 Stanley Cup Champions!!! said:

I watched the whole tournament and this is my break down as to the performance of the 5 kids that we had playing in the tournament (3 for Canada, and 2 for Sweden)

Personally, I thought that Thomas Hickey (paired with Luke Schenn as the 2nd line shutdown pairing) was absolutely outstanding and is fun to watch. Hickey's style of play seems to be along the lines of Rafalski or even Neidermeyer.
Bernier played outstanding (other than the 4 goal 3rd period in his second game, that was mostly the fault of the team breaking down around him and hanging him out to dry) Simmonds was just happy to be apart of the Canadian team. (he was over his head, I thought. Good experience for him though)
He played gritty and with heart when he saw ice time (limited as it was)

Oscar Moller is a gritty get your nose dirty forward seems like he could be a player like O'Sullivan is turning out to be. Niclas Andersen who played for Excellent on the blueline and seems like he has a skill set of Pronger, but plays much cleaner.

While possible future Kings picks, Steven Stamkos and Luke Schenn were big impacts players in the overall gold metal run for team Canada.

January 6, 2008 1:56 AM

Paul said:

I only watched the "medal round". I pretty much agree with your evaluation of the Kings prospects.

Everyone groaned when DL picked Hickey. This kid has TONS of talent! He was probably the 2nd best defenseman in the tournament, behind Schenn.

I also agree that Moller looked very good, and he does remind me of O'Sullivan.

It was nice to see Andersen, who I'd never seen play before. He looks like an NHL caliber player as well.

Unfortunately I didn't get to see any of Bernier's play, but from what was being discussed by the broadcasters I'd agree that his team broke down in front of him (sound familiar?).

I thought Simmonds showed a little more skill and grit then you seem to think he did, but he certainly wasn't the "star" of the team.

Now that the tournament is over, I wonder if Simmonds will come up to the Kings since he just signed a contract?

January 6, 2008 4:50 AM

J.P. Hoornstra writes about NHL and IHL hockey for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. He welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey. E-mail J.P. at jp.hoornstra
@inlandnewspapers.com.

Jill Painter joined the Daily News in 2000 and during the last eight years she's covered the Dodgers, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Kings, golf and everything in between. Even though she's from Colorado, she still freezes in the Staples Center press box but always manages to thaw her fingers in time to make deadline. E-mail Jill at jill.painter@dailynews
.com.