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Detroit will play hockey again! It’s exciting and in less than a week, the players will be doing drills. Assuming there won’t be the normal media presence, I’m hoping they do some streaming.

Here is their schedule. Back to backs quite a bit, it makes sense to get games in. Carolina is a team I love to watch. Impressive young players, and Hamilton doesn’t get near enough credit for how good he’s become. Maybe we’ll get to see the brothers Svechnikov share the ice. Honestly, i forgot how well the elder Svech played for GR at times. He’s a great kid, fantastic attitude. Just want to see a full season of what he can do.

I tuned in to watch Eemil Viro play for Finland vs the United States in a pre tournament WJC tilt. I have a couple of thoughts, and keep in mind this is an 18 year old defenseman. On the plus, this kid is very positionally and situationally aware. If his defensive partner was behind the net EV would stop at the goalmouth. He moved smoothly left to right and gapped up really well. There was a little Brad Stuart nostalgia. Yeah, Brad didn’t score much, but he helped keep the puck out of the net. On the PK, EV was able to take away passing lanes and for a shot that the goalie could easily handle. The US has a lot of weapons and he looked comfortable defending.

The downside - he is not comfortable when he has the puck. I watched him have a rough turnover at the point because he was rushed. He just needs to gain a lot of confidence in that area. His work ethic and skating looked very good. Finland impresses me year after year. They are very much playing a structure game vs the US “run and gun”. I wouldn’t mind having some solid defensive left side D come through the system.

Finally, I want to thank every one of you. You have literally spent most of a year reading about hockey related tidbits with no actual hockey being played. I am honored and blessed by the number of you that take time to share your passion in the comments. This community is something very special, and I’m grateful to be a part of it.

Another huge thanks go to EK and Eric for letting me have the honor of writing about this team. It is a dream come true to see that Winged Wheel on these articles. I’m hoping every one of you has a safe, happy and healthy Christmas.

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