COPENHAGEN - Brent Sutter was speaking to Paul Holmgren over the summer when the topic of Scott Laughton came up and the Philadelphia Flyers general manager noted that the prospect reminded him a bit of Mike Richards. Rickey Henderson Jersey . After Thursday, the two players have one more thing in common: both have served as captain of Canadas national junior team. Richards led Canada to gold in the 2005 event when Sutter was also coach. "He wasnt necessarily the best player on the team, but he was the glue of the team," Sutter recalled. Laughton, like Richards a first-round pick of the Flyers, was named captain of this years world junior squad on Friday. Sutter, now back for a third tour of duty behind the bench at the world juniors, informed Laughton of his decision before practice and then announced it to the team at the end of the workout. "Leadership with him comes naturally," said Sutter. "Hes a well-respected player inside our dressing room. He has a lot of charisma to him. He demands respect. He comes to play every night and he plays the right way." Holmgrens Richards comparison stuck with Sutter and has become clearer the more hes been around Laughton. And thats music to the 19-year-olds ears. "Ive looked up to Mike Richards for a while now," said Laughton, who plays for the Oshawa Generals in the Ontario Hockey League. "Hes with the same agent as me and ever since my junior draft year Ive been looking up to him and watching him and hes my favourite player so its a pretty big honour to be [compared] to him." Often times Canadas captain will be a player with previous world junior experience, but there are just three returnees this time around. Jonathan Drouin, an 18-year-old, is the only forward back and was named an alternate captain along with Minnesota Wild defenceman Mathew Dumba. The other two returning players are defenceman Griffin Reinhart, who will miss the first three games due to a suspension, and goalie Jake Paterson, who is competing with Zach Fucale for the starting job. With that in mind, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound Laughton had a pretty good idea of how hed fit in this year. "Im an older guy with pro experience so I knew I was going to be a leader on this team whether I did get a letter or not," he said. "Im a pretty vocal guy so Im going to continue to do that and also keep the room light and joke around a bit and things like that. Whenever a guy needs me to be there Im going to stick up for my teammates. Thats the biggest thing." Its clear why Laughton was an easy choice for Sutter. The Oakville, Ont. native can do it all. He filled a shutdown role while helping Canada win titles at the under-17 and under-18 levels, but is also dangerous in the offensive end. When he left for Canadas camp a week ago, he was seventh in OHL scoring with 24 goals and 50 points in 29 games. And, of course, hes also got some professional experience. Laughton got a taste of the NHL last season playing five games for the Flyers and then six more for the teams American Hockey League affiliate. "That really benefitted me and was huge for me just in terms of my confidence," he said. Laughton stuck with the Flyers out of training camp this fall, but was sent down early in the campaign without playing a game. "Its definitely disappointing and it always weighs in the back of your mind," Laughton admitted. "Coming back to junior, I tried to use it as motivation and tried to play my heart out and be a leader back in Oshawa and I think Ive done that." Aaron Loup Padres Jersey . -- Rory McIlroy birdied his last two holes Thursday for a 7-under 63 to take the lead after one round of the Honda Classic. San Diego Padres Jerseys . The Philadelphia left fielder clubbed a tiebreaking, solo home run in the seventh inning, and the Phillies edged the Red Sox, 2-1, in the middle test of a three-game interleague series at Citizens Bank Park. http://www.padressale.com/padres-ozzie-smith-jersey/ .com) - Jimmie Johnson won Sundays AAA Texas 500 while championship contenders Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski as well as their teams were involved in a post-race fight on pit road after the two clashed in the closing laps at Texas Motor Speedway.KITCHENER, Ont. - Matthew Greenfield made 22 saves and the Kitchener Rangers got goals from four different skaters en route to a 4-1 victory over the visiting Guelph Storm in Ontario Hockey League action on Tuesday. Nick Magyar, Ryan MacInnis and Mike Davies all found the back of the net for the Rangers (5-3-2), while Brent Pederson added an empty-net goaal with 32 seconds left to play. Franmil Reyes Jersey. Dmitrii Sergeev chipped in with two assists. Robby Fabbri replied for Guelph (6-3-0), which was outshot 36-23.Storm goaltender Justin Nichols stopped 32-of-35 shots in the losing effort.Kitchener was 2 for 6 on the power play, while Guelph failed to score on four chances with the man advantage. ' ' '