By Aaron Bell
Despite a busy weekend of OHL games, a group of 22 OHL stars are anxious to get back on the ice Monday at WFCU Centre in Windsor for Game 4 of the SUBWAY Super Series.
The OHL cruised to a 5-2 win over Russia in Game 3 of the series on Thursday in Barrie and hope to run the CHL's record to four straight wins in the series when they host the Russians on Monday at 7:00pm (10:30pm Eastern on Rogers Sportsnet Ontario, 12:00am MT on RSN West and live at 4:00pm PT on RSN PAC).
"It's going to be really nice going back to Windsor," said OHL defenceman Ryan Ellis, one of four Windsor Spitfires playing in the game. "It's going to be a little easier schedule for us. We play at home on Sunday and we'll get a good night's sleep on Sunday night.
"Playing in front of the Windsor fans is great anytime. I know there are a lot of die-hard fans so it's going to be a fun experience."
The OHL took an early lead on Thursday on a powerplay goal by Jeff Skinner of the Kitchener Rangers midway through the first period. But the Russians stormed back with a pair of goals less than five minutes apart early in the second period to take the lead. The OHL responded with goals in the second period by Taylor Beck of the Guelph Storm and Greg Nemisz of the Spitfires.
Skinner scored his second powerplay goal of the game and then Tyler Toffoli of the Ottawa 67s rounded out the scoring late in the third period.
Team OHL coach Dave Cameron of the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors said that he expects another challenging effort from the Russians, who have been idle since Thursday.
"I don't know if we expect anything different in their overall game plan," Cameron said. "I just think that as this series goes on and they become more comfortable in the small rinks and get to rest up a little bit that they're just going to continue to get better and better. I don't think there are going to be any major surprises."
"From start to finish they are going to push the pace probably a little bit more and probably just be a little more comfortable."
The SUBWAY Super Series is the final step in the selection process for Canada's final camp before the World Junior Championships next month in Saskatoon, SK. Cameron said that the level of competition in this series helps them determine the best roster of players to help Canada in its quest for a sixth straight gold medal.
"You really hope in all honesty when you get these games that they are close and go right down to the wire because that means that your opposition is worthy and your team is going to be challenged," said Cameron, an associate coach for Team Canada.
"This is a big evaluation process for us in trying to make Team Canada and make our final selections for that. The better the competition, the tighter the games, the better the evaluation."
For the players, the SUBWAY Super Series is a terrific opportunity to show the Team Canada brass that they are ready to represent their country in the tournament, which kicks off on Boxing Day.
Ellis said that it is a challenge for the players to gel quickly in this series after playing against each other throughout the season.
"We got off to a slow start (on Thursday)," Ellis said. "We only had one morning skate together so it was a bit of an adjustment. Once we started to get a little chemistry we started to move the puck a lot better."
"We've got a lot of high end guys on our team so the skill level was showing in the third and we showed it with a couple more goals in the third period."
The game can also be seen live online through INSINC at http://chl.insinc.com/canadavsrussia/.
The SUBWAY Super Series concludes this week with games in British Columbia in Victoria on Wednesday and Kelowna on Thursday.
For more information about the event including news, scores, stats, pictures, videos and broadcast information please visit www.subwaysuperseries.com
