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Sam Gagner to Dress for Canada

The Globe & Mail is reporting that Team Canada forward Eric Staal will miss the quarter-final game against Norway to attend the funeral of his grandfather. Unfortunate news for the Staal family, and you can't blame a guy for leaving to go to something like this.

The fallout from this is that the team's #14 forward, Sam Gagner, will get to play in a game. Having watched all the games to date from the pressbox, this will be our first chance to see him in action at the tournament. He's come a long way from being cut from the U-18 team a little while back.

As a bonus, he'll likely get to play with Jason Spezza on the 4th line.

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Canes Win Again

Oct 2008 from Canes Country - 0 comments

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TSN's reporting Spezza will take Staal's place as the second line Centre.

Seriously, any experience for gagner is only going to be beneficial. If he's used as a checker, so be it. I don't care. I trust the Canadian coaches, and I trust that Gagner will do whatever he can to get the win for his country.

by doritogrande on May 13, 2008 4:46 PM MDT reply actions  

...and according to sportscentre

"He will play on a line with Patrick Sharp, and will see some time on the powerplay."

by doritogrande on May 13, 2008 4:49 PM MDT reply actions  

Courtesy of the Globe & Mail:
Gagner's insertion into the lower part of the Canadian lineup will allow Jason Spezza to take Staal's centre position between Martin St. Louis and Derek Roy. They began the tournament as a trio, but sputtered, and Spezza was replaced with Staal. Canadian coach Ken Hitchcock is convinced Spezza can make the line work this time.

So 4th line duties, and maybe 2nd pp.

by Jonathan Willis on May 13, 2008 4:57 PM MDT reply actions  

It'll be interesting to see how Gagner plays today, he didn't look so hot in the exhibition but he was paired with lesser linemates and was playing better opposition.

My suspicion is that he'll play around 6 minutes, including 1 or so on the PP, depending on how many PPs Canada gets.

by Kyle on May 14, 2008 8:34 AM MDT reply actions  

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