Month: August 2022

Per the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRIFFINS COMMUNITY EVENT – AUG. 15-19, 2022

MONDAY, AUG. 15-FRIDAY, AUG. 19

10 a.m.-2 p.m. Daily – The Grand Rapids Griffins will host their second annual youth hockey camp at Griff’s IceHouse West in Holland (4444 Holland Ave.), with kids ages 6-16 taking part in the five-day event.

The camp will be instructed by Griffins assistant coach Matt Macdonald and right wing Dominik Shine, with the help of Hope College hockey players. An appearance will also be made during the week by Grand Rapids captain and longtime defenseman Brian Lashoff.

Click here for more information about the youth camp at Griff’s IceHouse West.

This video comes to us from Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen, in Twitter form: Red Wings prospect Carter Mazur spoke with the NHL Network after his 2-goal, 1-assist performance in last night’s 7-1 USA win over Switzerland.

Underway in the 2nd period on @NHLNetwork. #WorldJuniors

Hear from forward @Carter_Mazur during the break👇 pic.twitter.com/1XTdu5wxrJ

— USA Hockey (@usahockey) August 12, 2022

Sportsnet’s David Morassutti noted Red Wings prospect Carter Mazur’s 2-goal, 1-assist performance in Team USA’s win over Switzerland last night, with Morassutti naming Mazur one of his “Three Stars from Day 3” of the World Junior Championship:

2nd Star: Carter Mazur, USA: Coming into the tournament, Carter Mazur is looking to build off an impressive season at the University of Denver. 

While he was in a scoring slump in his first NCAA season, the Detroit Red Wings prospect made a call to his NHL team’s assistant director of player development, Daniel Cleary. After that, he would go on to finish with 14 goals and 38 points in 41 games.

Those tips have now turned Mazur into a scoring machine as he accounted for two of the team’s seven goals and was also named the player of the game as the top line of Mazur, Landon Slaggert, and Thomas Bordeleau had an impressive performance against Switzerland

After a scoreless first period, Mazur wasn’t going to make any mistake on a point-blank chance in front of the net with Mackie Samoskevich making a great pass from behind the net.

…

Through his first two games at the world juniors, Mazur has four points and is tied for sixth in scoring.

Continued with Twitter highlights of Mazur’s goals…

Team Sweden plays Austria today at 2 PM EDT (on TSN and the NHL Network), but I had a little bit of a scare before reading through the translation of this practice report from HockeySverige.se’s Rasmus Kagstrom.

In the 1 AM-Eastern Time-posted article, Kagstrom reports this from Sweden’s practice on Thursday in Edmonton:

Stakkestad and Edvinsson did not practice:

Neither Simon Edvinsson nor Ake Stakkestad practiced with the team on Thursday, but there, [coach Tomas] Monten leaves a reassuring message.

“There’s no danger with Simon. He’s ‘good to go.’ We had some players who were only on the ice for a while, some who weren’t on at all, and some who were on and practicing. It’s about optimizing their days,” says Monten.

Edvinsson played 26:09 in Sweden’s 3-2 win over Switzerland, so if he had an “off day,” that’s okay, but he’s also a little over a month out from participating in the Wings’ prospect tournament and training camp, so I got worried.

A bit more clarification comes from HockeyNews.se’s Henrik Sjoberg:

Continue reading Roughly translated: Simon Edvinsson ‘took a maintenance day’ on Thursday, is ‘good to go’ Friday vs. Austria

Red Wings prospects Carter Mazur and Red Savage took part in Team USA’s “nightcap” game against Switzerland on Thursday at the World Junior Championship.

There’s a lot to go over here! Team USA won 7-1 over the Swiss, improving their record to 2-and-0 as they reached the halfway point of their WJC round robin games;

Red Wings prospect and University of Denver forward Carter Mazur scored two goals and added an assist, taking 3 shots and finishing at +3 in 15:01 played. He was named the Americans’ player of the game, but Mazur had this to say to the NHL Network, per NHL.com’s Mike G. Morreale:

“We came into this game lightly, I would say, so we had to start dialing it in and play the body so they knew we’re there,” Mazur told NHL Network. “If we did that, we knew we’d get to our game.”

Red Savage played a more limited role, but played 12:40 worth of energetic shifts, finishing at +1 with 1 shot.

Highlights are below.

In terms of the game’s narrative…

In the 1st period, the Swiss sure came out a lot harder and with much more purposeful defense than the Slovaks did vs. Canada.

Continue reading Red Wings at the WJC: Mazur 2+1, Savage +1 in Americans’ big win over Switzerland

Red Wings forward David Perron spoke with Le Journal de Quebec’s Frederic Marcoux at a charity golf tournament in La Belle Province two days ago. Here’s a rough translation of their conversation, which was in French:

David Perron is ready to play a mentoring role in Detroit

Quebecois forward David Perron has mourned the loss of the St. Louis Blues this summer, but he is now ready to wear the Detroit Red Wings’ uniform, he explained on Tuesday, August 9, 2022 at the Pro-Am Gagne-Bergeron, in Quebec.

Quebecer David Perrn has mourned the Blues after 11 seasons with St. Louis. Now he wants to play a mentoring role in Detroit.

The break-up with the Blues hurt the 34-year-old left winger.

“It was disappointing,” agreed Perron, on the sidelines of the Gagne-Bergeron Pro-Am, a few days ago. “I had been there for several years. My children grew up in St. Louis. We were used to it, we loved it. It’s difficult, I deserved a contract that would have made sense for the team and me.”

His main interest now, however, is looking forward.

“It’s time to turn the page,” he agreed. “I’m excited to go to Detroit. I had conversations with [General Manager] Steve Yzerman. The team is in the process of rebuilding. […] I am the oldest player on the team, I want to play a leadership role.”

Continue reading Roughly translated: David Perron discusses ‘turning the page,’ helping build an identity with the Red Wings

Team Canada attempted to push their record to 2-and-0 against the plucky Slovaks on Thursday afternoon/evening.

Sebastian Cossa took a break in net so that Dylan Garand could start for the Canadians, but Donovan Sebrango did man the blueline for the Canadians.

There’s a good-news-bad-news situation here.

The good news is that the Canadians beat Slovakia 11-1, affording Canada a huge goal differential with which to break ties in case they lose to the Czechs on Saturday or the Finns on Monday, and Sebrango had an assist, finishing at +2 in a team-high 19:25 played.

The bad news is that Sebrango left the bench with 2 minutes remaining in the romp, and while Canada has a Friday off, Sebrango’s been important to the Canadians, and we’ll have to wait and see as to how he’s holding up.

In terms of the game’s narrative…

In the 1st period, Canada raced out to a strong start, and, while Connor Bedard was the dazzling dangler in the mix, Red Wings prospect Donovan Sebrango did indeed make his presence known with a good shot taken approximately 3 minutes in, followed up by a strong keep-in at the offensive zone blueline…

Continue reading Red Wings at the WJC: Sebrango plays 19:25, leaves early as Canada romps Slovakia

DobberProspects’ Victor Nuno wrote a very, very lengthy piece for the DobberHockey website conglomerate, discussing the Detroit Red Wings as part of DobberProspects’ “32 in 32” series. He offers both a breakdown of the Red Wings’ 2022 draft class as well as this take on the Wings’ offseason moves:

It seems that Yzerman has decided it is time to start being competitive again. He has overhauled much of the defense and added scoring up front. While this might now move the needle too much in the competitive Atlantic division, it should at least remove some of the pressure from the young players on this team. The additions and even some of the subtractions should make this team more competitive and help move the Red Wings in the direction where they are once again a competitive franchise every season, for the playoffs if not for the Stanley Cup.

Main roster: Andrew Copp (C/LW), Dominik Kubalik (LW), David Perron (LW/RW), Austin Czarnik (C), Matt Luff (RW), Ben Chiarot (D), Olli Maatta (D), Mark Pysyk (D), Robert Hagg (D), Steven Kampfer (D), Ville Husso (G)

System: Pontus Andreasson (C/RW), Jussi Olkinuora (G)

The blue line is almost completely overhauled this offseason. The only two regulars that remain are Moritz Seider and Filip Hronek. With the strong veteran presence, Seider and Hronek shouldn’t have to carry as heavy a load and might unlock more offense. Chiarot should continue to provide value in peripheral leagues as he should get all the minutes he can handle. The rest of the additions will likely be depth pieces.

Up front, Copp will bring a strong two-way presence and make the Red Wings tougher to play against in general. He should be able to drive play into the offensive zone and help his teammates score a few more points. Although he may not have Artemi Panarin or Mark Scheifele to play with in Detroit, he should get a lot of minutes and the opportunity to produce at least similar results to the last two seasons.

Kubalik and Perron bring a whole lot of secondary scoring, something the Red Wings sorely lacked. The team now has a legitimate top six and opponents no longer have to shut down one line. This should dramatically improve their chances of winning on any given night. Kubalik is coming off a down season, but he should be able to rebound to near the 50-point pace he had in his first two seasons in Chicago. Perron probably won’t score 26 power-play points again, but he should continue to be featured on the top unit.

The biggest addition is obviously in net, where Husso gives this team a legitimate tandem. No matter which of the two goalies they start on a given night, they have a good chance of winning with either Husso or Nedeljkovic. This season is pretty important for Nedeljkovic as he is an unrestricted free agent at its conclusion and will want to get his big payday. A good performance this season will ensure that and Husso should help make it happen.

Continued; this one’s worth your time…

As already noted, Red Wings prospect and Team Sweden forward Theodor Niederbach discussed his match penalty taken during yesterday’s Sweden-Switzerland game with HockeyNews.se, and he also spoke with Expressen’s Mats Brastedt regarding the incident:

Niederbach: “I don’t know if I’m going to play”

A match penalty in the World Junior Championship premiere vs. Switzerland.

Theodor Niederbach still doesn’t know whether he’ll be allowed to play against Austria [on Friday].

“The only thing I can do is prepare as if I’m going to play,” says the 20-year-old.

There are different ways for a player to excel during a hockey game.

The Junior Crowns’ Theodor Niederbach got a lot of attention against Switzerland for reasons he didn’t want.

With seven minutes remaining in the game, he brusquely checked an opponent into the back boards, and it was all but certain that the Swedish forward would leave the ice for good.

It was a match penalty, in other words.

By then, Rogle BK’s new acquisition had already had the time to visit the penalty box two times.

“It was unfortunate. Of course I wasn’t looking to hurt anyone,” says Niederbach at a digital press conference from Edmonton in Canada on Thursday evening, Swedish time.

Do you know whether you’ll play against Austria [on Friday at 2 PM EDT]?

“I really don’t know. Right now, nobody has a clue. The only thing I can do is prepare like I’m going to play.”

Continue reading Roughly translated: A bit more from Theodor Niederbach regarding his match penalty, via Expressen

Red Wings prospects Eemil Viro and Jan Bednar faced off on Tuesday afternoon in Edmonton as Viro’s Finns battled Bednar and the Czechs.

Jan Bednar did his best to keep the Czechs in it as he stopped 28 of 31 shots, but the pesky Finns kept tying the game and tying the game, and in a 5-round shootout, the Finns won 2-1, thus yielding a 4-3 shootout win for Finland. Bednar was actually very, very solid…

And, despite getting a little banged up, Eemil Viro had a solid game as well, finishing at -1 in 17:10 played, earning no special teams or OT time.

In terms of the game’s narrative:

In the 1st period, the Czechs got on the board 6:36 in due to an odd shot by Jaroslav Chmelar that found a hole in Leevi Merilainen…

Continue reading Red Wings at the WJC: Viro’s Finns win shootout over Bednar’s Czechs