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Canada tabs Fucale for WJC opener

Zachary Fucale

Goaltender Zachary Fucale speaks to the media at a news conference to announce the roster for Team Canada’s junior hockey selection camp in Montreal on Monday, Dec. 1, 2014. The World Junior championships will be held in Toronto and Montreal. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Ryan Remiorz)

AP

Canada will roll with Zachary Fucale instead of Eric Comrie in net for its 2015 World Junior Championships opening game against Slovakia on Friday, TSN reports.

The logic seems simple enough: Fucale’s been through this before.

“We’re comfortable with both goalies, but we just think it was normal to start with the goalie who was there last year and give him a chance,” Canada coach Benoit Groulx said.

Fucale, 19, said that he doesn’t think “the guys in the room will care that much” regarding whether it will be him or Comrie, also 19, in net after today. (Groulx wouldn’t commit to a starter on Saturday just yet.)

The Montreal Canadiens selected Fucale in the second round (36th overall) of the 2013 NHL Draft. The Winnipeg Jets selected Comrie with the 59th choice of that same draft.

If this post’s main image of Fucale being surrounded by a horde of media doesn’t sell the point that these guys are under quite a bit of pressure, note NHL.com’s look at the seemingly struggling Canadian goaltending development system.

(For the record, Fred Brathwaite told the Canadian Press that such a issue was a “crock.”)

This tournament just takes on a different feel when it happens in Canada, so this could be a really fascinating situation to watch.

Follow James O’Brien @cyclelikesedins