|
Matthews and Rielly in Good Company at World Cup |
|
|
|
|
|
The 2016 World Cup will include eight teams divided into two groups, A and B.
Group A:
Canada
Czech Republic
Europe
USA
Group B:
Finland
North America
Russia
Sweden
The tournament is two weeks in length and includes a number of the best National Hockey League players from all around the world, including the Maple Leafs Morgan Rielly and Auston Matthews. The Leafs duo will be playing for the North American team, which consists of the top players from both Canada and the United States who are 23 or under as of October 1, 2016.
It’s going to be great to not only see some hockey, but some elite level hockey as there is some serious talent on both of the teams I will be cheering for. Canada and North America, as it’s in my blood to cheer for Canada in any and every hockey event. I really like the looks of team North America’s roster, and I think it’s the perfect road for Matthews to enter himself into the league. A chance to skate with a number of quality players, both on his team and against will bode extremely well with his jump into the NHL.
North America’s roster includes:
Sean Couturier
Jonathan Drouin
Jack Eichel
Johnny Gaudreau
Dylan Larkin
Nathan MacKinnon
Auston Matthews
Connor McDavid
J.T. Miller
Sean Monahan
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
Brandon Saad
Mark Scheifele
Aaron Ekblad
Shayne Gostisbehere
Seth Jones
Ryan Murray
Colton Parayko
Morgan Rielly
Jacob Trouba
John Gibson
Connor Hellebuyck
Matt Murray
Matthews getting a chance to play in this tournament just before training camp and the season beginning is going to give him a good idea of what he’s up against. It never hurts to be hanging out with a number of all-star players as well as coaching staffs that are so highly regarded. It wouldn’t shock me at all if Matthews felt as if this tournament was a nice ‘ice-breaker’ to ease the tension that Leafs Nation brings with their hordes of fans and ever so enlightening media.
The Toronto Maple Leafs has seven other players who are participating in the World Cup.
James van Riemsdyk (USA)
Frederik Andersen (Europe)
Nikita Zaitsev (Russia)
Milan Michalek (Czech Republic)
Roman Polak (Czech Republic)
Leo Komarov (Finland)
Jhonas Enroth (Sweden)
Babcock on Matthews; “For Auston, I don’t know what his role is going to be but he’s going to learn from this tournament and he’s going to get better every time out.”
What will be interesting is if Canada faces-off against North America and Matthews and Rielly are against their Maple Leafs coach in Mike Babcock. That game is a win-win for me as long as no Maple Leafs gets injured! (knock on wood)
Have yourself a great weekend, thanks for reading.
Blogger •Atlantic Division Writer • 
Join the Discussion:
»