Minnesota is absolutely spoiled with the bounty of hockey-related riches within driving distance. Top talent can be found in nearly every corner of the state, and rare is the player that wants for competition. 

That said, going up against the top Canadian and European players in the world is a whole 'nother ball (puck) game. The flow of the game is different, the intensity level is altered, and the kid from the Canadian prairie or the Russian tundra doesn’t particularly care if you’re one of the best players from (insert town name here). 

Adjusting to the level and style of play of your opponent is a critical component in player development, and learning to do so and excelling in different environments should not be ignored in favor of a Minnesota hockey superiority complex.

The 2004 CSKA group, based in Moscow, are skilled, communicative, and pleasant neighbors to have at the Holiday Inn Express. Through Monday, CSKA is in first-place of Pool A with a perfect 5-0 record, outscoring opponents 28-8 in the process.

As is tradition, CSKA is well-coached and utilizes the entire sheet of ice impressively. No room to move in the neutral zone? Fine, they’ll zip the puck back to a defender at the top of their face-off circle and wait for one of the players making a crossing/curl/out route to get open before slingshotting the puck back into offensive transition. 

What generally goes unnoticed is how well a team can play with the puck in their skates, and this is an area where CSKA impresses. The majority of the group can catch any pass sent their way, often using their skates to coax the puck to their stick from the side or from behind. The ability to make these plays ensures very few offensive opportunities are wasted, with little chance of errant pucks. 

Arguably the most-hyped and lauded player in the tournament, the 2004 Pacific Selects’ No. 98 Connor Bedard performed well on Monday, upping his tournament totals to four goals and five points in five games.

At 13-years old, Bedard is excellent offensively, with an incredibly quick release and hard shot that does not require a demonstrative windup to create power. Although understandably smaller than most of the opposing players on Monday, Bedard showed an ability to quickly knife through defenders and protect the puck in the offensive zone.

Bedard skates for West Vancouver Academy during the fall and winter season, and will likely apply for Hockey Canada's coveted "exceptional status", which would allow him to enter the CHL a year early.

Former University of Michigan men's basketball star and NBA standout Jalen Rose was a master of trash-talking, talking smack, talking junk, whatever you want to call it. Trash-talk is an art, and when it’s executed cleverly and quickly, it can rattle an opponent, spark a team, fire up the trash-talker. 

In one of the final games of the evening, a talented player was in full Rose-mode, letting the opposition know that he was going to score, that they couldn’t stop him and that they’d never be able to stop him. After an innocent round of verbal sparring near the opposing team’s bench with what appeared the to the entire battalion, Said Player scored less than 90 seconds later, and his team won handily.

The losing team allowed a single player to occupy some serious mental and emotional real estate, and because of the distraction, the game spun away from them. Could it have been that Said Player’s team was on a roll? Were they feeling the flow? Were they juicing the juice? Sure. However, it probably didn’t hurt that a number of the losing team’s players were visibly more frustrated with Said Player’s verbal jabs than they were with the score.