Morning Flurries: Oh Caaaaanadaaaaaaa

While the Colorado Avalanche look to ring in the new year with a home date against John Tavares and the New York Islanders, it’s been a big 12 hours for Canadian hockey teams. Canada’s success at the World Juniors and the Spengler Cup was buoyed by both the past and future of the Avalanche franchise.

Early this morning, Team Canada was able to win their third straight Spengler Cup early this morning. Canada beat HC Davos 3-0 in the final. One time Avalanche farmhand Maxim Noreau let Canada in scoring with 5 points during the tournament.

Along with Noreau, former Avs P.A. Parenteau, Cody Goloubef and Jay McClement all played a significant role for Canada.

It’s expected that this Spengler Cup team was being used as an audition for many Canadian players, so there’s a good chance we’ll see a couple of these former Avs put on the maple leaf at the Olympics in February.

Over at the World Junior Hockey Championship, Team Canada was able to clinch first place in Pool A with an 8-0 win over Denmark.

Colorado’s two young stud defensive prospects both found their way onto the score sheet. Cale Makar scored a powerplay goal on a nice shot from the point in the second period, while Conor Timmins added an assist on a beautiful outlet pass to Sens prospect Alex Formenton in the third.

Cale Makar has looked absolutely incredible for Canada on the powerplay. Now we need to see if he can make the same sort of impact without the man advantage. Timmins, on the other hand, has been arguably Canada’s most reliable defender - leading the breakout and logging very solid penalty killing minutes.

The future of the Avs blueline is looking pretty good.

World Juniors

Team USA plays Finland this afternoon. If the Americans can win the game in regulation, they will finish second in the pool, setting up a potential date with the powerhouse Swedes in the semi-final. A loss would result in 3rd place and a rematch with Canada in the semis.

Speaking of Team Finland:

Back in the NHL, things just keep getting worse for Matt Duchene and the Ottawa Senators. The Sens lost 5-0 to the Bruins last night, and from the looks of things, fans are fed up.

Ottawa is at a crossroad. They’re sitting second last in the Eastern Conference and are looking more and more like a team that needs to rebuild. The problem with that is that they owe the Avs a 1st round pick in one of the next two years. They also don’t have a 2nd this season, as it was dealt to the Rangers are part of the Brassard/Zibanejad trade. The Sens need to tear it down, but how do you do that without your own draft picks?

We saw a minor trade yesterday as New Jersey Devils sent defenseman Dalton Prout to the Calgary Flames for backup goalie - and taco lover - Eddie Lack.