Rasmus Rissanen summoned by Finland

Received confirmation today that Everett defenseman Rasmus Rissanen has been invited to Finland's tryout camp for the World Junior Hockey Championships. Therefore, Rissanen has the opportunity to represent his country at the tournament, which takes place Dec. 26- Jan. 5 in Saskatoon and Regina.

Rissanen is the second Everett player who will be attending a tryout camp for World Juniors. Defenseman Radko Gudas will be attending camp with the Czech Republic, and given he was a key member of last year's team he's pretty much a lock to make the cut.

Rissanen will not miss any of Everett's games before the Christmas break. Gudas is expected to miss at least two as he's scheduled to depart sometime next week.

This is great for Rissanen and Gudas, as this is the biggest stage in junior hockey.

However, the Tips are facing a real problem on defense after the break. Here's the hits Everett may take:

- Gudas is gone to World Juniors.

- Rissanen may be gone to World Juniors.

- Ryan Murray is gone to the U-17 World Hockey Championships.

- Associate head coach Jay Varady, who handles the defensemen, is gone to World Juniors as part of the U.S. coaching staff.

That's three of Everett's top four d-men, along with the defensive coach.

Now let's take a gander at Everett's schedule to start the second half:

Dec. 27, Tri-City
Dec. 29, at Tri-City
Dec. 31, Saskatoon
Jan. 2, Tri-City.

That's right, Everett's first four games after the break are against teams ranked in the top 10 of the entire CHL, and the Tips could be playing those with a shadow defense.

Yikes.