Lombardi quotes on Moller

As anyone here ever been to a World Junior Championship game? What's it like? Where do they play?

With the minutes TM has been giving Moller of late, I'm sure Moller can't get away fast enough.

6 minutes a game.
Ivanans and Zeiler as your linemeates.
I'd want run from this coach too.

Is the US roster out yet? There are a lot of good young americans coming out of the program lately. I'm glad to see it. Isn't Kane an Amero?

wavesinair - I have not, but that's a good question. I'd love to one day make a vacation out of attending one of the Junior Championship tournaments, preferably in Europe. It would be great if someone who's been could tell us a bit about it.
I'd also love to get to an Olympics tourey.

Again, I'm really excited for Moller and all our young prospects who'll be involved in this.

anthony said:

With the minutes TM has been giving Moller of late, I'm sure Moller can't get away fast enough.

6 minutes a game.
Ivanans and Zeiler as your linemeates.
I'd want run from this coach too.

With Richardson and Armstrong out, who should play 4th line center?

All I want for Christmas is for Anthony to post something positive. Not just one line in a post but an entire positive post.

any word as to why Moller only got 6 mins last night and played very little (if at all) in the 3rd and OT? Looks like he took a shoulder in the face from Murry late in the second.

Anthony,

Moller is by no means running from TM. Where do you come up with this stuff?

Truth is, Moller is excited with great reason to go represent his native country in the most prestigeous tournament in the world for his age group. And I'm certain that after the tournament he will be equally as thrilled to return to his team. TM's decision to put him on the 4th line is out of necessity, not out of distain for Moller. Unbelievable how much you hate the coach that deserves so much credit for bringing a shattered team together.

boyle of course

Parineum,
I'd put Calder on the line with the scrubs before I put Moller.

Whawt about this:I like Could they be showcasing Moller at the WJC's? This would be a great forum for all the "Hockey eyes" watching. Maybe Lombardi is showcasing him or other prospects (Hickey, not Teubert) for a blockbuster deal that could be in the works....I really like Moller, but

bravolima -

No.

(No.)

En.

Oh.

I attended the 2006 World Juinor tournament that was mainly held in Vancouver, BC. All of Team Canada's games were there, but a lot of the round robin games were held in my home town of Kelowna, as well as the nearby town Kamloops. Once the round robin was over, all of the playoff games were held in Vancouver at GM Place which is home to the Canucks.

I can honestly say it was the greatest week of my life. My and my best friend made the trip to Vancouver for the whole week of playoffs and watched about 8 games, including the gold medal game in which we beat the Russians 5-0 in front of a sold out, and loudest arena I have ever heard in my life. Seriously, even louder than any rock concert I have been to by far. We had such a blast double fisting beers during two games per day, and in between they had a massive beer garden across the street from GM Place with local bands entertaining everyone day and night.

Up here in Canada the World Junior tournament is the best hockey tournament of them all, including the World Championships, Olympics, and to some people, even the Stanley Cup playoffs. I think the reason it is so special up here is because it happens during the Christmas holidays and when we were young, we all remember watching the tourney as we were off school and never had to miss a game. Last year the announcer on TSN had a funny comment during the gold medal game which was on a Monday morning. He said "we would like to wish a speedy recovery to the thousands of Canadians that called in sick to work today"...ha,ha, it was classic, but so true.

I have a lot of cool pictures too from the tourney. Jack Johnson, Eric Johnson, Phil Kessel from the Americans and a whole bunch of team Canada...not sure where I can post them for you guys though if you're interested...I also drank with Malkin after the game at a local club. Just happened to run into him in the lineup and he was with 3 other guys from his team. And yes he was allowed in because the legal drinking age up here is 19, which is how old he was at the time. We played bubble hockey against him and his teamate, and we crushed them!!! ha,ha

Anthony,

While I agree I'd like to have Calder on line four, someone has to center that line. Moller has basically been given ownership of that line and, to be honest, I think they've been pretty effective since he's been on it.

I'd rather have in him the top 6 but until Richardson is back, I'm happy.

Here's to hoping for a Calder-Richardson-Armstrong fourth line in the future.

Anthony...do you even understand what a center is, what they do on the ice, and what their responsibilities are both on offense and defense?

Didn't think so.

Moller is a center by trade, Calder has never played there.

This coach you love to hate so much has the 3rd youngest team in the NHL competing on a nightly basis with one of the best defenses in the NHL...GET OVER YOURSELF ALREADY.

Awesome t4. Thanks for the story. Sounds like a blast. My good friend and I grew up here in southern california and we're such huge hockey fans. It would be so great to make that trip some day. I've never been to canada. Did you play? Were there pick up games on outside ponds?

Absolutely wavesinair.

It's just like all the cliche's you've heard from all the hockey players you hear interviewed. We all played outside in -30 weather after school and wouldn't come off the ice until our parents came out and made us. We'd usually have one pair of skates for real hockey, and one pair for outdoor hockey in case you stepped on a rock or something when you were walking to and from the outdoor rink from your parents car where you'd put your skates on. But even now as you get older, everyone still loves to get on the outdoor rinks and play some shinny, especially on Boxing Day.

And yes I played hockey. I played Junior A until I was 20, then played Senior AAA until I was about 26 then I moved to Kelowna and took a break from playing and got season tickets to our WHL team, the Kelowna Rockets. The only player I played against in Junior's that ever amounted to anything was Shawn Horcoff, when he played for the Trail Smokeaters in 1994, which was before he played for Michigan and when he was only 16. He got a hat trick against us one time...I just remember bugging him about his giant ears all game and then he'd just go and score another goal....ha,ha

Could it be that Terry Murray knew before the San Jose Game that Oscar would be playing in the WJC in Canada? Yes. Could it be he therefore limited his play and put him on a line where he could get a chance to see how the Kings would look without him? Maybe. Could it be that he was trying to ween the Kings off of Moller for the next 3+ weeks? Certainly possible. Could it be TM is smarter than all of you, especially Anthony? Likely! Oh and in case you did not know, Simmonds ROCKS the shootout drill in practice, and Purcell was rewarded for his play last night by being a shootout selection. Whether you agree with it or not is your choice. If Kopi went out there and flubbed in the #3 position last night, would you be on TM for his choice there too? Until you can think of all the angles, you couch coaches should sit back, chill, and enjoy the positive growth this team is displaying. And if you want to see more improvement from this young team, with last minute tickets available at 50% of face value, get your a**es out to Staples, fill the seats and cheer the youngsters on.

I think it's a class act that DL and/or the Kings organization is letting Moller play in WJC. Good luck Oscar and a early congrats on being one of the Captains.

This is awesome, we have not one but two Captains (Hickey and Moller) representing. Please waove calder and gauthier and labfloppa