Frank Corrado Survives the First Round of Cuts

By Corrhouse (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Defencemen Adam Pelech and Derrick Pouliot along with forwards Sean Monahan, Francis Beauvillier and Tyler Graovac were the five players cut following Wednesday’s exhibition game against the University of Alberta Golden Bears.

In the game, Corrado scored the only goal for Team Canada as they fell 4-1 to the Golden Bears. He also scored the game-winner a night before for Team Red in the Red-White intrasquad game.

It appears there are only four spots remaining on defence.

Defencemen Dougie Hamilton, Morgan Rielly and Scott Harrington and forwards [Ryan] Strome, Philip Danault, Boone Jenner, Charles Hudon and Brett Ritchie also sat out, meaning they are safe bets to be on 23-player Canadian team announced Thursday night. Defender Xavier Ouellet was a scratch because of an ankle injury.

This leaves Corrado, Mathew Dumba, Ryan Murphy, Xavier Ouellet, Griffin Reinhart, Ryan Sproul, and Tyler Wotherspoon all competing for those spots.

Both Rielly and Harrington are left-handed shots while Hamilton, like Corrado, is a right. The coaching staff are likely seeking one more left-handed shot and two right-handed shots to balance out the top-six defence pairings.

The seventh spot could go to Corrado, a defenceman that can play in both ends of the rink and can switch over to the left in a pinch. Corrado played the left-side with Hamilton for Team OHL at the 2012 Subway Super Series.