By JIMMY D / Groundhog Day - Canada wins WJC again | Jimmy's archive

Groundhog Day is a month away, but the first Saturday of the New Year always seems like a repeat of the last, much like the silly Bill Murray flick where he gets stuck repeating the same day over and over again.

It would be un-Canadian to yawn at such an accomplishment, another first-place finish at an international event.

But didn’t the fourth consecutive gold medal at the World Junior Hockey Championships sorta feel like Groundhog Day? You wake up, Canada has fought its way to the final, they triumph through adversity and celebrate at the end while teenage boys hoot and sob through the playing of O’ Canada.

Jimmy would never say it gets boring after a while, but it seems only the names change from year to year. Last year it was Carey Price stoning the Russians.

This year, it was an unheralded third-round pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets named Steve Mason. Canada won again, albeit in dramatic and non-dominating fashion, in an OT final over a talented Swedish team. Mason finished with a 95-per-cent save percentage and a miserly .119 GAA. Among tournament starters, his GAA was half that of the next best goalie (Jhonas Enroth of Sweden at 2.33).

But since the names are different, hockey poolies – especially keeper-league bosses – have to pay close attention to these two weeks of shinny.

And Canada can return 10 players from this team next season. As in Groundhog Day, strike up Sonny & Cher’s I Got You Babe and get ready for another title in 2009 in Ottawa.

Future No. 1’s

While last year’s No. 1 NHL draft pick wasn’t in action (Patrick Kane had better things to do beating NHL defencemen with the Blackhawks), the likely top picks from 2008 and 2009 were on the ice for Canada.

John Stamkos and Drew Doughty are early candidates for the top pick and neither did anything here to detract from their worthiness of that honour. Doughty looks like a stud with enough size, obvious toughness and nice offensive ability and he was named the tournament’s best defenseman.

Stamkos can be a top-flight playmaker. Jimmy would be surprised if one of them were not the No. 1 pick in June.

And the highly touted early frontrunner for the 2009 draft also excelled. John Tavares just missed the cut-off date for the 2008 draft, where he would have rivaled Stamkos and Doughty. Instead, he will spend another year in junior, where NHL teams can start planning now to finish last overall.

Jimmy scoring leader

OK, so he goes by James, but Jimmy loves it anytime a Jimmy wins an award or leads the league in a category. Flyer draft pick James van Riemsdyk led the tournament in scoring with five goals and six assists.

Russian prospect Nikita Filatov finished second in scoring, including two goals in the bronze-medal game. He is 2008-eligible, has plenty of offensive flair and is bright and already fluent in English. Teammate Viktor Tikhonov, grandson of the legendary Rusky coach, was named best forward.

The player you will likely see in an NHL jersey first is American Kyle Okposo. The No. 7 pick in last year’s draft left the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers and signed with the Islanders, who assigned him to Bridgeport of the AHL. He had six points in the WJC and is physical enough to play right away in the NHL.

Among defencemen, it was an odd mix where Switzerlands’ Yannick Weber led the way and Eric Moe – a most un-Swedish of names – was tied for third with four points.

Like Mike

OK, so who wouldn’t love to pull up to the draft table and call Mike Jordan’s name? The 2008 draft will see Czech blueliner Michal Jordan’s name called. He is playing with Plymouth of the OHL.

Gophers, Bill Murray and Jimmy

So when you mention Bill Murray and gophers in the same column, it’s impossible for the 1982 movie gem Caddyshack to not spring to mind. And it’s timely since Jimmy bought himself the dancing, singing gopher stuffed toy for Christmas.

You recall the dastardly varmint who was destroying the golf course in the flick and Murray’s crazed obsession with stopping him? Well, press a button and he does his little disco shake while Kenny Loggins’ theme music plays. It’s great.

Anyone needing a break in their hectic schedules should really pick up one of these. Or visit Youtube.com to see clips of the gopher’s movie shenanigans.

Get busy, get lucky.

Jimmy D