Duchene dominated at the 2008 World U-18s, where he led Canada to gold with eight points in seven games and was named captain during the subsequent Ivan Hlinka Cup - a prominent international U-18 tournament - where Canada won it all again. The case for Duchene: Prior to the 2009 camp, Duchene appeared to be an internal favourite amongst Hockey Canada’s brass. He posted 12 points the following year, as Canada lost in the 2010 gold-medal game. Even if Hall had a propensity to do it all by himself at 18, it’s hard to imagine him not being a solid contributor to this championship squad. Hall was edged out by Brett Sonne and Angelo Esposito, neither of whom have played a single game in the NHL. Canada cruised to a 5-1 gold medal victory over Sweden, with the team preferring a grit-over-skill ideology for its bottom-six. How does the decision look now?: It looks worse in retrospect because it didn’t impact Canada immediately. Hall and the Spitfires repeated as OHL and Memorial Cup champions the following year, when he became the first player in tournament history to repeat as MVP. Hall led Windsor to an OHL title and Memorial Cup, where he won tournament MVP upon recording eight points in six games. I guess you can’t argue with the transparency of the decision, but Hall went on an absolute tear upon being snubbed. “He needs to use the other players on the ice a little bit better and take advantage of his speed with some give and go’s, so he’s not always trying to beat people one on one.” Why he didn’t make the team: “Taylor needs to mature his game a little bit and understand he may be the best option sometimes, but not always,” Hockey Canada head scout Al Murray told The Canadian Press’s Donna Spencer. Tyler” argument to make the case for Tyler Seguin. Hall was widely considered the presumptive favourite to go first overall in the upcoming 2010 NHL Draft, although draftniks concocted a “Taylor vs. After posting 45 goals and 84 points during his rookie year, Hall’s elite acceleration and goal-scoring ability figured to translate well on the larger, international ice surface even against players two years his senior. The case for Hall: Hall’s world-class speed was evident from the minute he joined the Windsor Spitfires and he transformed the trajectory of the organization during his second season with the club. Where does it rank all-time? Let’s find out! Taylor Hall, 2009 The annual world junior selections are often contentious with Canadians having heightened interest in the team’s fortunes at the tournament, but Clarke’s exclusion is the most shocking we can think of in recent memory.
Hockey Canada’s decision to leave Clarke off the roster was so baffling that The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler followed up with James Boyd of the team’s selection committee, where he chalked the decision up to flexibility. The 18-year-old’s tremendous puck movement and ability to navigate tight spaces would’ve been an immediate boost to Canada’s power play, and the team now enters selection camp with just two left-handed defencemen - Jack Thompson of the Sudbury Wolves and Vincent Iorio of the Brandon Wheat Kings.
The offensive dynamo has widely been considered the best defenceman in the province for his age group, going back to his years with the Greater Toronto Hockey League’s Don Mills Flyers. Brandt Clarke’s omission from Canada’s 2022 world junior selection camp roster drew unanimous befuddlement and outrage from the hockey community on Wednesday.Ĭlarke, selected eighth overall by the Los Angeles Kings in the 2021 NHL Draft, leads all OHL defencemen with 23 points in 17 games for the Barrie Colts.