Welcome back to WJC Update for the Season 72 World Juniors Championship. This series is about best players, surprises, and let downs from the most recent games. Stick around and follow us as VSN is here to be the media outlet for you and your entertainment!
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The round-robin is officially over, and our matchups are set for the medal round. All in all the standings are pretty comparable to our second update, only the final pair of teams has swapped spots. Team USA maintains their top spot after a brilliant string of performances. Next is Team Europe who narrowly edges out Team Canada. Finally, Team World has overtaken Team Asia for the fourth position thanks to their tenacity in the final string of matches, despite actually losing to Team Asia in their final game of the round-robin. Let’s dive into the individual team’s performances now.
Team United States of America
Coming from their humble starts after the first day of play, the United States has continued its strong run of performances coming out of Day Two. The US started Day Three with a strong win against fellow contenders in Team Europe, outsourcing the Europeans by a score of 6-4. Lucas Brandt played a fantastic game, scoring two goals and assisting once, as the Americans mounted a push late, scoring three goals in the third period. Ending the round-robin on somewhat of a sour note, the Americans lost to Team Canada in an overtime thriller, despite outshooting the Canadians 57-34. They won’t be happy but considering they went through the entire round-robin only losing twice, both in overtime, and I’d say they are sitting pretty for the medal rounds. The Americans are a textbook case of balanced scoring; they have nine players with ten or more points; the next closest is Team Europe with only six. They have the most goals scored with 45 and the highest GD at +11. Jack Feriancek and Mickey Dickson combine to be a lethal front line, each with 15 points, while winger Gino DiGiannantonio has impressed as well, scoring 4 points in their final two matches to sit at third on their scoring charts. Their defence will have to improve, however, and goaltending remains inconsistent. John Poremba’s .886 SV% may not be enough, despite thus far being good for six wins, but at the end of the day, if they keep outsourcing the opponents, it doesn’t matter how many you concede.
Team Europe
The Europeans will be somewhat disappointed with how their final day of round-robin hockey went but certainly ended with a morale booster. Playing three games saw them lose twice, against both the United States and Canada, and then win big against Team Asia. They were simply outgunned against the Americans, but they let Team Canada slip past them in a disappointing 4-3 loss that saw them outshoot their opponents 48-39. In that game, Richard Penisson did well to score twice, but a lack of discipline saw them concede twice early on in the third period. Really, their biggest error was conceding a total of nine penalties, on which they were punished three times. Their final game, and indeed the final game of the round-robin overall, perhaps felt like a bit of a release. The Europeans took out their anger on poor Team Asia, winning the match 7-3. Gregg Stallion, who is tied with Penisson for most goals on the team with 6, found the back of the net twice. Zyrock12 had a particularly impressive four assists from the blue-line. The Europeans blue line, in general, has been a constant force, with all four of their defencemen scoring nine or more points. They will be a good team to look to coming into the medal round, with a very balanced profile across defence and offence.
Team Canada
Barely behind Team Europe in the standings, Team Canada is looking strong going into the medal round. Sitting with a tournament-best 28 goals allowed, the tournament’s best goaltender Jacob Tonn has been on fire. His .924 SV% is the best amongst starters, and he is the only starter to have under a 4.00 GAA, sitting at 3.47. Canada’s issue isn’t scoring either, per se. Their star centre SS Hornet has the second-most points and is tied for the most goals with 8. However, he is the only Canadian in the top ten for points. They just need more from the rest of the team. Day Three started off with an unfortunate loss to Team World. After going down 3-2 in the first period, World always stayed one step ahead, ending the match with a final score of 4-5. However, their next two games proved their efficacy against the big boys this tournament, beating both Team USA and Team Europe, the two teams above them in the standings. Balanced scoring and a goaltender standing on his head saw them win 4-3 against the Europeans. Against the Americans, Tonn played another good game, but it was their power play that deserves the most credit, scoring three of their five goals. Joseph Gainer put away the game just 48 seconds into the overtime period as the Canadians upset their neighbours on the southern border.
Team World
The biggest storyline from Day Three has to be Team World’s impressive performances to end the round-robin. Winning two of their three matches, losing only once in overtime, Team World put themselves on the map here. An incredible performance from defenceman DeFenz Mann against Canada saw them win the first one 5-4. Mann had a hat-trick in the first period, and further contributed with the sole assist on fellow blueliner Latrell Mitchell’s game-winning powerplay goal in the third period. Then they played Asia, and well, I’ll let the stats speak for themselves. 7-3 final scoreline, Gary Neal with a hattrick and two assists, Mann with one goal and four assists, Micah Adrienne with three assists. Speaking of Gary Neal, he is looking like a potential early favourite for tournament MVP. Leading the league in goals (tied with 8), assists (11), and points (19), his only knock may be that Team World could struggle to advance in the tournament. If he keeps playing like this though, I’m not sure they will struggle. Nothing is guaranteed, however; just one match later, they lost to Team Asia in a shootout. The first period was incredible, with seven goals scored between the two teams. Aleelee Kiak had a fantastic game, scoring two goals and assisting twice, but it wasn’t enough to seal a win for World.
Team Asia
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Despite ending Day One at the top of the standings, Team Asia now brings up the bottom and faces immediate elimination in the playoff game against Team World. Their Day Three performances left a lot to be desired for the most part, as they lost 7-3 on two separate occasions. Those games have been covered for the most part; the short end of it is Asia did not do too hot. Their game against Team World showed, however, that they aren’t out of the running yet. Jungkok remains their top scorer, with 12 points. His hattrick in that shootout victory against Team World was vital, including a game-tying goal with 4 minutes left to push the game into overtime. However, with a lack of top talent, Team Asia is going to have to grind out results if they want to progress in this tournament. Bacon has been a consistent performer, with a .914 SV% over five games played, and may prove instrumental moving forward into the medal rounds.
But for now, that will be all from us. Do you agree with our assessment? Tune in next time for your WJC Update, presented by @Hylands33! See you there!
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VSN Writer Mr_Hatter
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