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TSN Hockey Reporter Mark Masters reports on the World Junior Hockey Championship. Team Canada held two practices in two groups (Red and White) on Tuesday at the Westerner Park Centrium in Red Deer, Alta. 

Andre Tourigny tried to ease his players back into things on Tuesday. 

"There's a lot of rust, no doubt about it, but the energy was good," said Team Canada's head coach, "body language was good, the guys were excited, a lot of smiles."

It was the first day back on the ice for the players since an intra-squad scrimmage on Nov. 22. The next day two players tested positive for COVID-19 and the whole World Junior selection camp was forced to shut down for a two-week quarantine. 

The first practice on Tuesday focused on skating and execution with limited body contact. The plan was to raise the intensity level in the second practice in the afternoon and focus on systems work. On Wednesday, a special teams session is scheduled for the morning and then an intra-squad game at night. Another intra-squad game is set for Thursday before Hockey Canada makes its final cuts.

"The margin between the players is so thin," said Tourigny. "It's so, so thin that one good performance, one bad performance, the order will shift."

"There is going to be some stress for sure," said Lethbridge centre Dylan Cozens, one of six returning players. "They're making cuts quick. We're getting back in action really fast ... The competitiveness is going to be through the roof. We were all in our rooms for 14 days so we're all super antsy to get back out there."

Two intra-squad scrimmages took place at the end of the first week of camp, but a series of six exhibition games against Canadian university players have been scrapped. Hockey Canada had hoped to be down to its final group for the last two exhibition games against the U-Sports players. They could have made mass cuts coming out of quarantine, but wanted another opportunity to evaluate the players.  

"The coach always wants a little bit more time," Tourigny said, "wishes he had one more game, one more practice, one more day, one more week. It's always like that."

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Hockey Canada was forced to release five players, who were deemed "unfit to play": Edmonton Oil Kings defenceman Matthew Robertson, Saginaw Spirit defenceman Mason Millman, Moose Jaw Warriors defenceman Daemon Hunt, Drummondville Voltigeurs  forward Xavier Simoneau and Brandon Wheat Kings forward Ridley Greig, who is an Ottawa Senators prospect. 

"I can't thank those players enough," said Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada's senior vice-president, national teams. "You can imagine how difficult that would be to go through 14 days of quarantine and then have a call I made to them and their parents yesterday informing them that based on the return-to-play protocols they would not be able to continue at camp."

There are now 11 defencemen remaining with eight spots available. On the World Junior Countdown show on Tuesday night, TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie identified five locks: returning players Jamie Drysdale and Bowen Byram as well as Montreal Canadiens prospect Kaiden Guhle, Braden Schneider and Thomas Harley, who made his NHL debut in the bubble with the Dallas Stars in the summer. Halifax blue liner Justin Barron is considered a frontrunner for a spot, per McKenzie. 

There are still 25 forwards in camp vying for 14 spots. McKenzie lists seven as locks: returning players Cozens, Connor McMichael, Quinton Byfied and Dawson Mercer as well as Kirby Dach, who's on loan from the Chicago Blackhawks, Winnipeg Jets prospect Cole Perfetti and Peyton Krebs, who accompanied the Vegas Golden Knights into the bubble during the summer.   

McKenzie sees five frontrunners for spots up front, including Edmonton Oilers prospect Dylan Holloway, Jack Quinn, who plays for Tourigny in Ottawa, Alex Newhook, Phil Tomasino and Calgary Flames prospect Jakob Pelletier. 

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Tourigny admits it won't be easy for the five goalies in camp to get up to speed considering the long layoff and limited opportunities to see game action. 

"A player can, every game, get 15, 20 minutes of ice time and it's enough for him to get his rhythm," Tourigny noted. "A goalie wants more ice time to get in a rhythm. So, if you look at the schedule, we'll have two games here and then we'll have two prep games against Sweden (Dec. 21) and Russia (Dec. 23) before the tournament so it's not a lot for the goalies." 

Before the camp opened goalie coach Jason LaBarbera described the crease competition as a "wide-open race" and nothing has happened so far to really change the dynamic.

Four goalies saw action in the first two scrimmages before the quarantine. Kamloops' Dylan Garand stopped all 11 shots faced in 30 minutes of work. London's Brett Brochu stopped 39 of 44 shots (.886) in a game and a half of action while Prince George's Taylor Gauthier stopped 43 of 49 shots (.878) in 90 minutes of work. Saginaw's Tristan Lennox stopped six of eight shots (.750) in half a game. 

Northeastern University's Devon Levi, who started camp in a cohort quarantine with the other two NCAA players, skated with the main group for the first time on Tuesday. 

"It was definitely not an easy challenge," said Levi, who posted a .941 save percentage in 37 games with the Carleton Place Canadians in the CCHL last season. "I've been able to stay fresh throughout the quarantine by watching film and doing some hand-eye exercises so that my transition back on the ice would be be seamless."

Brochu, Garand and Gauthier will each play one period for Team White on Wednesday while Levi and Lennox split time for Team Red.

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All 10 teams will enter a bubble in Edmonton on Sunday, but Team Canada is already in one. 

"We've moved in our protocols from a protective environment to a secured bubble and there's some significant differences," said Salmond. "No. 1 being that there's no crossover, no interaction with anyone outside of what's been identified as our group. So, arena staff, hotel staff, bus drivers are all social distanced, all masked and all completely staying away from us."

Some of the precautions being taken include: 

* All meals will continue to be consumed in hotel rooms and be delivered by team staff. 

* There's no cleaning service for the hotel rooms with towels and linens dropped off daily. 

* Transportation to the arena will be via two buses with a maximum of eight players on each bus. 

* There will be a 12-player maximum in each dressing room. They actually had seven players in six different rooms today.

"We've really locked down," said Salmond. "We thought our protocols were very strong to begin with and they're enhanced and now we're operating in a bubble structure similar to what we'll have when we get into Edmonton."

Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 will be ineligible to play at the tournament. Sweden, Germany, Austria and the United States have all been forced to make roster changes in recent days. Sweden has seen three key players and head coach Tomas Monten test positive.

"I don't think it's stressful," insisted Byram. "The Hockey Canada staff has done a really good job of making sure we're protected. We're the safest people in the country right now."

But this will be a tense few days for everyone involved with organizing the event. 

"It's difficult," said Salmond. "You hold your breath every day and you hope not only for our sake but others that they can get to Edmonton on the 13th and be healthy and we can have a real strong competition."

Salmond said the International Ice Hockey Federation has a contingency plan in place to push forward with an eight-team event if a couple countries experience a significant COVID outbreak.

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Team Red lines at practice: 

Levi

Lennox

 

Harley - Schneider 

Guhle - Barron

Sebrango - Spence

 

Quinn - Byfield - Krebs 

Perfetti - Bourque - Rees

Beckman - Goncalves - Clarke 

Holloway - Newhook - Pelletier 

Foerster

 

Team White lines at practice: 

 

Brochu

Garand

Gauthier 

 

Byram - Drysdale 

O’Rourke - Cormier

Korczak

 

McMichael - Cozens - Dach 

Zary - Mercer - Tomasino 

Lapierre - Schwindt - Wright

Poulin - Suzuki - Jarvis 

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Quarantine Confidential

TSN caught up with several Team Canada players during their two-week quarantine. Here are the links to the interviews: 

In a round-table discussion, Harley, Byram and Krebs reflected on their time in the NHL playoff bubble: https://www.tsn.ca/talent/bowen-byram-thomas-harley-and-peyton-krebs-open-up-about-nhl-bubble-experience-1.1560612 

McMichael struggled in the Team Canada poker tournament, but easily deals with pressure on the ice: https://www.tsn.ca/masters-canada-s-connor-mcmichael-saves-his-poker-face-for-the-ice-1.1561393 

Holloway is riding high after being picked by the Oilers in October and getting phone calls from Connor McDavid and Wayne Gretzky: https://www.tsn.ca/talent/boosted-by-oiler-star-power-dylan-holloway-brings-momentum-to-canada-s-camp-1.1560973 

After a strong first week on the ice, Flames prospect Connor Zary did his best to impress Team Canada's coaches during a Zoom meeting on the topic of trust: https://www.tsn.ca/calgary-flames-prospect-connor-zary-builds-trust-at-team-canada-s-camp-1.1560414 

Tomasino, the camp’s leading scorer, broke down his top plays from the first two scrimmages: https://www.tsn.ca/fired-up-tomasino-making-big-impression-at-canada-s-camp-1.1559994 

Drysdale described the chemistry he developed with Byram during the first week of camp and explained why the Rock Paper Scissors tournament became quite controversial: https://www.tsn.ca/masters-jamie-drysdale-building-chemistry-with-byram-on-team-canada-s-top-pair-for-world-juniors-1.1558605 

Mercer rediscovered an old hobby, drawing, and shared what it was like to hear Arkells frontman Max Kerman play to the group over Zoom: https://www.tsn.ca/dawson-mercer-draws-a-complete-picture-at-team-canada-s-world-juniors-camp-1.1559124 

Cozens provided a rundown on what a day in quarantine looked like for the group and heaped praise on Byram for his first-week performance: https://www.tsn.ca/masters-dylan-cozens-on-how-team-canada-is-coping-with-quarantine-1.1557802 

Kings prospect Akil Thomas reflected on his game-winning goal in last year's gold-medal game and offered advice to anyone who starts in a depth role this year: https://www.tsn.ca/masters-unlikely-hero-akil-thomas-offers-advice-to-team-canada-s-depth-players-at-world-juniors-1.1559497 

Perfetti, the reigning CHL scholastic player of the year, edged Harley and Garand in a World Junior trivia competition: https://www.tsn.ca/video/perfetti-garand-harley-play-world-junior-trivia%7E2091850