For Jeff Skinner, call it one version of hockey Catch-22.
Skinner is in St. John's, Newfoundland, this week for Canada's national junior team development camp in preparation for the 2011 World Junior Championship. It's a team that Skinner, the Canes' first-round draft pick this year, would love to make — and not make.
"It means a lot to all of us young Canadians who grew up watching the tournament at Christmas time and know the history of the tournament," Skinner said by phone. "We know the history of the tournament and the pride that comes with playing in it."
There's also the matter of last year's World Junior. The Canadians were upset by Team USA in the gold-medal game in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
"Everyone is very aware of what happened last year," Skinner said.
Then again, the World Junior will be played in Buffalo from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5, 2011. Given his druthers, Skinner would prefer to be playing for the Hurricanes, as a rookie in the NHL, at that time.
Skinner, who scored 70 goals in 84 regular-season and playoff games for the Kitchener Rangers (OHL) last season, expects to be in the fight for an NHL roster spot in preseason training camp. If not playing for the Canes next season, the center from Markham, Ontario, will be returned to the Rangers and likely would be a part of Team Canada's bid for a World Junior gold.
"It's a lot to think about," he said. " I'm just taking everything a step at a time."
Skinner already has one highlight in the WJC camp. A sweet scoring move in a practice shootout already has made the TSN videos.
A Raleigh native, Chip has worked at the N&O since 1979 and is the Canes beat writer. He can be reached at 
Comments
More praise for Skinner...
Mon, 08/09/2010 - 15:23 — penaltykiller74Saw this blog on a Yahoo today.
http //ca.sports.yahoo.com/juniorhockey/blog/buzzing_the_net/post/Shades-of-Sid-in-Hurricanes-hopeful-Skinner-;_ylt=AtWUXth4hODdTyAGidvkslJ.ppJ4?urn=juniorhockey-261171
It will be nice to see how he does in training camp.
Make sure you put the ":" back in the address after the "http".
Skinner and the Red/White Scrimmages
Sun, 08/08/2010 - 10:19 — abramsdougThe WJC Camp had another red/white scrimmage yesterday. Skinner was on the red jersey team and Seguin was on the white jersey team. The announcers were effusive with their praise of Skinner. He, LeBlanc, Couturier, and Schen were the most praised forwards. Eakin had a great game, and he is going to be a good playe for the Caps. Skinner is one of those players who can light up a building with his talent, charisma, and work ethic.
Skinner also has what I think is a winner's attitude. He is not watching the score, but continues to give 150% no matter what. The announcers praised Skinner's skill and offensive creativity. Skinner also did a fine job of back-checking and crashing the net. On one play in particular, Skinner came around behind the net with the puck, fought of defenders and put the shot on net, where his teammate missed a pretty open rebound shot.
By contrast, the announcers put a major beatdown on Seguin. They repeatedly questioned his willingness to go into physical areas and his effort. My take was Seguin was not so much awful as that he was invisibile. If one hadn't heard the hype and seen what Seguin can do when he is on, he would just have been "one of the guys on the ice." The point is not that I am hammering Seguin or think he is a flop; but my reaction was if all I had to judge were those two scrimmages and I had to pick between Seguin and Skinner, hands down I'd take Skinner. It's a small snapshot, of course. On the other hand, every time I've seen Skinner, he has approached each time on the ice with maximimum effort. It's hard to coach that attitude; and when one sees a player like Skinner, Ruutu, LaRose, Boychuk, and Bowman who exude maximum effort every skate on every shift, you know you may have something special. When the players with that kind of attitude also possess top end physical skills, you realize there could be magic about to happen.
Jeff Skinner Getting High Marks Thus Far at WJC Camp
Thu, 08/05/2010 - 23:23 — abramsdoughttp //tinyurl.com/2f9a9xt
You will have to remove spaces to get to this link which is at TSN. Pierre McGuire raves on about how impressive Skinner was at the WJC Camp.
Wow. Doesn't show the most
Thu, 08/05/2010 - 18:38 — Otag1Wow. Doesn't show the most finesse but very creative. Takes alot of puck handling skill and concentration to pull this shot off. Worth checking out, looking forward to the years ahead.
chip - are you going to traverse city?
Thu, 08/05/2010 - 16:29 — jejohn8