Neuvirth Ready To Turn Pro; Super Series Stat Wrap

Corey Masisak has a profile of Michal Neuvirth in today's WTimes and his desire to turn pro this coming season rather than return to Plymouth of the OHL.

"I don't want to play with Plymouth for sure because we have a very young team, so I think we're not going to make playoffs this year," Neuvirth said. Well, you're certainly not going to make the playoffs with that attitude.

Someone who has forgotten more about goaltending than Neuvirth likely every will know, Caps goalie coach Dave Prior, believes a tougher year in the OHL could be good for Neuvirth. "I think there is some benefit in going through adversity. Obviously, his team has to rebuild a lot and won't be nearly as strong. In Michal's case, it could be a good challenge to try to be the difference."

But Neuvirth has promise and may be better served in Hershey being mentored by Freddy Cassivi and being coached at a higher level (for what it's worth, I don't think the organization is in love with Daren Machesney, the putative number two goaltender in Chocolatetown). Coach Hanlon had these thoughts to offer on the matter:

"He is going to determine where he ends up playing.... We come with a few preconceived notions and evaluations that we have before camp on some players obviously. The higher end player, the more you’ve accomplished the easier it is to sort of slot where you are. There are always a handful at training camp where it’s wait and see what you do.

"We don’t ever want to take away the fact that if you come here, work hard and show that you can play at a certain level and the rules allow you – because of his situation – allow him to be in the American Hockey League. And if the player and management feel that it’s the best thing for him, then we’ll put him where he deserves to be playing."

[It's also worth noting that, because of his place of birth, the AHL is an option that Neuvirth has that other similarly-situated youngsters (like Francois Bouchard) do not. As Masisak reminds us:

Players from the three Canadian junior leagues who were born in North America are not eligible to play in the American Hockey League or East Coast Hockey League until they turn 20, but because Neuvirth was born in Europe, he could start the season with Hershey or South Carolina as a 19-year-old.]

So Michal Neuvirth will make his case to be a Hershey Bear over the next few days, but ultimately it will be up to the Caps to decide whether it will be better for his development to spend a year getting number one goalie minutes on a potentially bad OHL team or number two minutes on a good AHL team. Where would you send the kid?

Finally, the Super Series wrapped up last night, but not before Karl Alzner potted his first goal of the series. Over the eight games, Alzner had a goal and three assists (and impressed the hell out of everyone who was watching - "few insiders would be shocked if the Hitmen blueliner sticks with the Washington Capitals this fall"), fellow Caps blueline prospect Josh Godfrey ended up with six assists in six games and Simeon Varlamov wound up with a 4.71 GAA and a .861 save percentage in seven periods of work.

All Alzner

Reading the beginning of this article on Karl Alzner (who is impressing any and everybody who watches him play these days), reminded me of a post Mirtle made a couple of weeks ago about how over-extended some Junior stars are. Here's how the CanWest article on Alzner begins:

These are heady times for Karl Alzner.

The smooth-skating, 18-year-old defenceman has latched onto a world junior championship gold medal, was selected fifth overall in June's National Hockey League entry draft and is a key player with Canada's unbeaten troops in the Super Series against the Russians.

Oh, and he anchored the Calgary Hitmen through three rounds of the Western Hockey League playoffs last spring [after playing 63 regular season games].

Now he'll wrap up the Not-So Super Series, head to Caps rookie camp and then either get an invite to full camp or head back to Calgary for the Hitmen's pre-season, followed by a full regular season of hockey and playoffs.

At some point a kid needs a break, doesn't he?

H/t to Buttercup on the link

Ovechkin's Thoughts On The Super Series

Yesterday we told you that Alex Ovechkin would be fielding calls on SovSport's "Hotline." Thanks to Dmitry Chesnokov for passing along the following excerpt from the interview, which, not surprisingly, focuses heavily on what is on the minds of most Russian hockey fans - their nation's performance in the Super Series. Look for more of the interview in the days ahead.

By Pavel Lysenkov
Alex Ovechkin knows first hand what it’s like to play against Canadian junior team. In January of 2005, our [Russian] junior team, led by Alex [who was yet to be called the Great at that time], was beat in the final of the Junior World Championships by a score of 6-1. Today Alex Ovechkin hosted a “Hotline” set up by Sovetsky Sport to answer questions from fans and journalists. The main topic of the day was: How to get over this humiliation at the hands of Canada?

“To be honest with you, I have not seen one game of the Series,” Alex says.

- Why? Does it not interest you?

“I honestly don’t have time. I practice every day. I am also trying to take care of things before I leave for North America later this week.”

- But you are certainly aware of what’s going on in the Series. What is your reaction?

“When you get punched once it hurts. When it happens five times in a row, all your senses go numb.”

- Not long ago you told Sovetsky Sport that our [Russian] team is a good match for Canada, and that luck will play a major part. But the bad luck cannot be blamed five times in a row.

“It is obvious that the Canadians are better than us right now.”

- Maybe the main reason is the youth development?

“But we also have a youth development system. It’s just that the Canadians do it better, more professional. Every year they produce 10 to 15 starlets. And us? Last year only Cherepanov started to shine. I don’t know of anyone else.”

- Is it true that Canadian players intentionally target our [Russian] leaders [to knock them out of a game, i.e. injure]? They injured your shoulder two years ago.

“They purposely accent [their efforts] on the lead player of the opposing team. It is not [cowardice], it is a strategy. You might say we should do the same. But who should we target? They have a dozen leaders on their team. You can’t do it to everyone. Besides, these are not our methods.”

- Do we need this Series? We may lose 8-0, it will be a total embarrassment.

“We do, but for the “big guys.” The ones playing at the Olympics, the Worlds. I am not so sure we’d get beat by the Canadians the same way, if we had Malkin, Radulov, Kovalchuk. As for the junior team, Cherepanov got “broken” and we were left without our leader. And Team Canada could call upon Jordan Staal and others, if necessary, maybe even Crosby. But it was decided to go without them. They [Canadians] thought they could beat us with their second team. And, as we are seeing now, they can.”

- [phone lines were open for people to call in. Here is a question from a caller] Hello, Alex? This is Konstantin from Moscow. I have a sad question. Our boys [the junior team] are playing in the “Series of Grief.” Do they deserve such a whipping? What advice would you give them?

“To forget this horror and to prepare for the next game. Although I understand that it won’t be easy. You are playing for Russia and you are being routed 5:0… Embarrassing, to say the least. But that just means that this is the current level of our junior hockey. I feel hurt for our guys.”

- There is a term – “beaten boxer”. Is it possible that our juniors will simply break after this humiliation?

“I don’t think so. The guys are young. Although I must tell you that after that 6:1 loss it took me over a week to get back to normal psychologically. It hurt so badly. That year in the semis we beat the tournament favorites – Team USA. We had gone through the entire tournament being very consistent, playing well. But we were still routed.”

Journalists showed Alex a cover design for the next issue of the newspaper that read in all caps “Who needs these losers”. Then they explained where the words had come from [One of the Canadian journalists said that when asked why no one wanted to talk to the Russian players]. Ovechkin scratched his beard, thought for a minute and then said:

“After this series Canadians will think very highly of themselves. But these are only junior teams playing. If people in Canada think that our hockey is in a deep hole, it’s their right [to do so]. Do they remember Turin? You know, they don’t. What makes them different from us is that they remember only their victories. And we, unfortunately, are fixated on our defeats.”

The entire transcript of the Hotline will appear in one of the upcoming issues of Sovetsky Sport.

Watch Game Three Of The Super Series

Watch Game Three (or at least what's left of it) here.

By the way, my understanding is that Simeon Varlamov was pulled to start the second period.

H/t to Kukla's on the link.

Watch Game Two Of The Super Series

Big-time glove-tap to OFB's EmptyMaybe for passing along (via the Caps Message Board) this link to watch Game 2 of the Super Series. Enjoy (note: neither Simeon Varlamov nor Josh Godfrey are in the lineup for their respective teams).

Varlamov Takes The Blame After 4-2 Loss

Thanks to Dmitry Chesnokov for translating and forwarding the following interview with Simeon Varlamov, the losing goaltender in today's 4-2 loss to Canada in Game 1 of the Super Series.

Sovetsky Sport reporter Vladislav Domrachev spoke to a few players after the first game of the Superseries-2 between Canadian and Russian junior hockey teams in Ufa. The faces of Russian players read "It's the end of the world." But the Caps prospect Simeon Varlamov had the courage to say a few words.

- Simeon, what happened?

- I shouldn't have let in so many [Varlamov replies with anger in his voice]. Three out of four goals are on me. And the first one turned everything upside down! How did I not stop that one? The shot came from a sharp angle, and the puck squeezed between my pads. Even the penalty shot I should have stopped. I was so close.

- Was the penalty shot [the right call]? The Canadian player [Kyle] Turris managed to get a shot on goal after Igor Zubov brought him down. Usually it is only a penalty call.

- I also think that the penalty shot should not have been called. But [Vyacheslav] Bulanov [the referee] made the decision in favor of the Canadians.

- Did you breathe easy in the new arena?

- We started to get out of breath at the end of the first period. It was very hot on the ice. Afterwards in the locker room I wrung out almost a bucket of water from my skates. But this is not an excuse. I must not have conceded those damned goals.

- But your partners did not create anything in the last 50 minutes?

- I can say it again: the first goal [I let in] broke them down.

How Us Yanks Can Watch The Super Series

TSN and Rogers Sportsnet will be streaming the Super Series games live on the Intertubes. Unfortunately, if you don't have a Canadian IP address, you won't be able to watch.

Or will you?

Stik Sav reports the following way to supposedly get around that restriction (for informational purposes only, obviously - I'd never suggest you circumvent the way these sites have agreed to broadcast their games):

Go to a public proxy website like http://www.publicproxyservers.com/ or http://www.proxy4free.com/ and find an entry for a Canadian proxy server.

Then configure your browser to use the proxy.

Internet Explorer: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/135982

Firefox: http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/inter...xProxySetUp.cfm

Once completed you should appear to be from Canada and able to enjoy the Super Series this week. Here is the broadcast schedule from TSN's website:

All times are EST
Mon, Aug. 27 Canada Russia 9am TSN & Broadband
Wed, Aug. 29 Canada Russia 9am Rogers Sportsnet & Broadband
Fri, Aug. 31 Canada Russia 8am Rogers Sportsnet & Broadband
Sat, Sept. 1 Canada Russia 6am TSN & Broadband
Tues, Sept. 4 Russia Canada 8pm TSN & Broadband
Wed, Sept. 5 Russia Canada 8pm TSN & Broadband
Fri, Sept. 7 Russia Canada 10pm Rogers Sportsnet & Broadband
Sun, Sept. 9 Russia Canada 8pm Rogers Sportsnet & Broadband

UPDATE: OFB's EmptyMaybe points to this link as another alternative.

Alzner: Team Canada's "Stabilizing Force"

Defenseman Drew Doughty will be one of the first players chosen in next year's NHL Entry Draft, but for now he's part of Team Canada's top pairing for the upcoming Super Series. His partner? Caps prospect Karl Alzner.

CanWest has more:

Alzner and Doughty make for an interesting tandem. Alzner, from the Calgary Hitmen, is the Team Canada veteran, an assistant captain, and the team’s stabilizing force on the back end.

Doughty is the youngest defenceman on the team and a risk-taker.

“It’s been awesome being paired with Alzner,” Doughty said. “He has so much experience. He’s such a very good player. I know he’s always back there so it’s good for me. We have really good chemistry and I think we’ll work well together.”

Of all the players on Team Canada, Alzner probably has the best shot to go from this Super Series right into the NHL.

He was drafted fifth overall by the Washington Capitals in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. When this eight-game series ends, he will go straight to rookie camp.

“The good thing is by the time main camp comes, I’m going to be in game shape and that should give me an edge over everyone else,” Alzner said. “This is probably the best warmup for camp.”

Mid-September can't come quickly enough, can it?

Super Series Rosters

Here are the Canadian and Russian rosters for the Super Series. Needless to say, there are loads and loads of talent therein.

Hopefully the games will all be 1-0, thanks to Canada's shut-down defense and Russia's young stud goaltender.

A Bit More On The Super Series

The CP previews the upcoming Super Series by revisiting the 1972 Summit Series and profiling the Canadian participants.

The entire article makes for a good read, and the short profiles of the two Caps prospects are nothing if not encouraging:

Karl Alzner, Calgary Hitmen -- The big, steady, stay-at-home defenceman doesn't make mistakes in his own end and thus is a calming influence on the back end.

Josh Godfrey, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds -- Another big defenceman who can move the puck and has a howitzer of a slapshot.

And don't forget - the goaltender who Alzner and Godfrey will be facing on most nights is expected to be Simeon Varlamov. Caps fans will no doubt be watching this series very closely.