Canada's 2011 WJC: Featuring de Haan, Casey Cizikas and his awesome mustache

I guess this means I have to pay attention to the World Junior Championship again, which ultimately is a good sign for the Islanders pipeline. (Seriously, let us know if you plan on following, or even attending some games in Buffalo. We have more LHH participants than last year at this time.)

Last year's 2010 tourney featured Calvin de Haan and Travis Hamonic, both injured by those evil and totally not-neutral Swiss -- the team led by Nino Niederreiter, who would become ours six months later in accordance with the BC prophecies. That tourney also featured Islanders property Kirill Petrov leading Russia in scoring, plus Matt Donovan for USA. (Donovan's not on this year's roster, but the reverend Brock Nelson is on the USA preliminary list.) So there are reasons to follow, even if you'd rather hit the egg nog circuit between Dec. 26 - Jan. 5. Who says egg nog and under-20 hockey don't mix?

A year later, de Haan returns as expected, while Hamonic is already impressing with the NHL club. And in walks Casey Cizikas. And his awesome mustache.

From that Mississauga write-up on Cizikas: "He has speed, he’s not afraid to go into the tough areas of the ice to fight for the puck, he’s a play-maker and he’s a top penalty killer." I guess the mustache speaks for itself.