nivek_wahs
04-25-2007, 04:28 AM
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories.php?id=40238
Bounces will haunt Schenn, Team Canada
By Doyle Potenteau
Sunday, April 22, 2007
One day, Luke Schenn will look back and realize that placing fourth isn‘t all that bad. And, in fact, it‘s actually quite good.
However, Sunday wasn‘t that day.
“Fourth . . . it seems terrible right now,” a disappointed Schenn said from Tampere, Finland, two hours after Canada fell 8-3 to Sweden in the bronze-medal game at the world under-18 hockey championship.
“There‘s no question we should have been in the gold-medal game . . . the feelings aren‘t too good right now.”
Deadlocked 2-2 late in the second period, Sweden surged ahead when Mikael Backlund scored with one second remaining in the frame to make it 3-2. In the third, the Swedes iced the game with with three goals in eight minutes, including a power-play marker that made it 4-2.
Angelo Esposito of the QMJHL‘s Quebec Remparts closed out the scoring at 12:42 with his second goal of the game, just 10 seconds after Backlund made it 7-2 on a goal assisted by Oscar Moller of the Chilliwack Bruins.
For Canada, it was the second disappointing outcome in as many games, having suffered a 4-3 shootout loss to the U.S. in semifinal action on Friday.
For Schenn, a thick, six-foot-two defenceman for the Kelowna Rockets, the world tournament represented a chance to put a disappointing season behind him. Instead, he was saddled with another sad ending, one comparable to Kelowna failing to make the WHL playoffs.
“Both are pretty bad,” Schenn said when asked to compare the two results. “With Kelowna, it seemed (not making the playoffs) was coming for a while, that maybe we knew we weren‘t going to make it. But this team, it was a great squad and we could have done some damage. I‘m pretty mad right now because (the Rockets) were done and I wanted to move on and win this.
“It‘s too bad because we had an unbelievable group of guys who were pretty close . . . we just didn‘t get the bounces,” said Schenn. “This was an unbelievable experience. It‘s pretty cool that a guy from Saskatoon can get a chance to play in something like this. I enjoyed the experience, but we were expecting to at least medal.”
Canada remains without a medal in the under-18 tournament since winning silver in 2005. It has won the title once, in 2003. Winning gold this year was Russia, which beat the U.S. 6-5 and prevented the Americans from winning a third straight title. It was Russia‘s first podium finish since winning in 2004.
In six games, Schenn scored three goals and finished at plus-nine. Canada‘s goal leader was centre Zac Boychuk of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, with four. The plus-minus leader was defenceman Mark Katic of the OHL‘s Sarnia Sting, Schenn‘s blue-line partner, at plus-10. With a late birthday (Nov. 2), Schenn, 17, isn‘t NHL draft eligible until 2008. By then, he should be a hot commodity.
“Luke had a really good tournament,” said Jeff Truitt. “Every day, he got better and better. He was outstanding, especially with the puck, and was definitely in the top-three defencemen here.
“Getting three goals in his first three games, and the way he was moving pucks and making good plays, I‘d say he got noticed quite a bit.”
Bounces will haunt Schenn, Team Canada
By Doyle Potenteau
Sunday, April 22, 2007
One day, Luke Schenn will look back and realize that placing fourth isn‘t all that bad. And, in fact, it‘s actually quite good.
However, Sunday wasn‘t that day.
“Fourth . . . it seems terrible right now,” a disappointed Schenn said from Tampere, Finland, two hours after Canada fell 8-3 to Sweden in the bronze-medal game at the world under-18 hockey championship.
“There‘s no question we should have been in the gold-medal game . . . the feelings aren‘t too good right now.”
Deadlocked 2-2 late in the second period, Sweden surged ahead when Mikael Backlund scored with one second remaining in the frame to make it 3-2. In the third, the Swedes iced the game with with three goals in eight minutes, including a power-play marker that made it 4-2.
Angelo Esposito of the QMJHL‘s Quebec Remparts closed out the scoring at 12:42 with his second goal of the game, just 10 seconds after Backlund made it 7-2 on a goal assisted by Oscar Moller of the Chilliwack Bruins.
For Canada, it was the second disappointing outcome in as many games, having suffered a 4-3 shootout loss to the U.S. in semifinal action on Friday.
For Schenn, a thick, six-foot-two defenceman for the Kelowna Rockets, the world tournament represented a chance to put a disappointing season behind him. Instead, he was saddled with another sad ending, one comparable to Kelowna failing to make the WHL playoffs.
“Both are pretty bad,” Schenn said when asked to compare the two results. “With Kelowna, it seemed (not making the playoffs) was coming for a while, that maybe we knew we weren‘t going to make it. But this team, it was a great squad and we could have done some damage. I‘m pretty mad right now because (the Rockets) were done and I wanted to move on and win this.
“It‘s too bad because we had an unbelievable group of guys who were pretty close . . . we just didn‘t get the bounces,” said Schenn. “This was an unbelievable experience. It‘s pretty cool that a guy from Saskatoon can get a chance to play in something like this. I enjoyed the experience, but we were expecting to at least medal.”
Canada remains without a medal in the under-18 tournament since winning silver in 2005. It has won the title once, in 2003. Winning gold this year was Russia, which beat the U.S. 6-5 and prevented the Americans from winning a third straight title. It was Russia‘s first podium finish since winning in 2004.
In six games, Schenn scored three goals and finished at plus-nine. Canada‘s goal leader was centre Zac Boychuk of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, with four. The plus-minus leader was defenceman Mark Katic of the OHL‘s Sarnia Sting, Schenn‘s blue-line partner, at plus-10. With a late birthday (Nov. 2), Schenn, 17, isn‘t NHL draft eligible until 2008. By then, he should be a hot commodity.
“Luke had a really good tournament,” said Jeff Truitt. “Every day, he got better and better. He was outstanding, especially with the puck, and was definitely in the top-three defencemen here.
“Getting three goals in his first three games, and the way he was moving pucks and making good plays, I‘d say he got noticed quite a bit.”