S78 WJC Awards

[bigAL 2,176]

The S78 World Junior Championship Medal Ceremony

 

Before we begin, I have to give a big shoutout to all our GMs, players, and fans who made this tournament possible. You make this happen. I might build the hype but you are all the passengers and conductors. Thank you!

 

Our Legendary GMs:

Team Canada - v.2

Team USA - Zetterberg

Team World - Darth Kaprizov Sr.

Team Asia - BrutalBoost

Team Europe - Matt thunder

 

On that note, let me present the first award of the night:

 

The Cheerleader Award

The Cheerleader Award is something I invented because of the support and awareness needed to make this tournament successful. The Cheerleader Award is for the team who builds the best hype train, screams the loudest, and obsessively cares about the WJC. This year’s Cheerleader was a GM who pumped up their team in and out of the tournament with hype graphic announcements and pumping players’ tires at draft time. Your S78 Cheerleader Award winner is:

 

Spoiler

Darth Kaprizov Sr!

His Team World ‘shops were just legendary.

 

 

 

Speaking of legendary, our friendly neighbourhood VSN WJC Correspondant Ledge and/or Dairy kept a close eye on the tournament:

 

S79 WJC Round Robin Review

 

We all knew that this WJC was going to be bizarre when Team Canada started winning. And win they did, in droves, finishing tied for 1st seed with a 6-2-0 record, but gaining first place via the goal differential tiebreaker, in which they led massively. The top 4 RR scorers belonged to Canada.

 

Team World, however, is a decorated team, and they surprised very few en route to the same record as the Canadians. Comprised of the best players from all the less-represented nations, this edition of World’s only two losses came at the hands of their counterpart Canada and the eventual champions Europe. 

 

Speak of the devil, the Europeans started off a bit slower, but their supercharged roster had to pay off sooner or later. They had a rollercoaster of a round robin, going 4-3-1 and never getting a streak greater than 2 games, but the 8 initial games as a group allowed the squad to gel and they went into the elimination rounds full of confidence with a 6-4 win over World to cap off the RR.

 

After two straight seasons of boffo performances from the typically basement-dwelling Asian team, this edition took a step back. With a roster largely made up of castaways, Asia still managed to take down Europe in their proudest effort of the tourney. With a 2-5-1 record, they didn’t squeeze into a semis bye, but at least they stayed out of last place.

 

Team USA has been historically bad at the WJHC. It was a bad omen when two S80 players made the cut, and although they both fared well, I can’t say the same for the Americans as a whole. They finished 2-6-0, falling two points short of Asia for the place in front of them. They had only one player at a point per game pace. 

 

GOLD MEDAL

Team Europe

GM: Matt thunder

Captains:

C - Anze Miklavz

A - Jared N Jr

A - Napoleon Bonaparte

 

 SILVER MEDAL 

Team Canada

GM: v.2

Captains:

A - Nathaniel Minion

A - TheCHEESE

A - Shane Lazeski

 

BRONZE MEDAL 

Team Asia

GM: BrutalBoost

Captains:

C - Bogdan Turnov

A - Willy Myers

A - Vasilly Grigorev

 

---

Honourable Mentions

Team World

GM: Darth Kaprisov Sr.

 

Team USA

GM: Zetterberg

 

TOURNAMENT MVP:

From Team Canada, the leading scorer was not only a ridiculous 2.1 PPG, but was not even a forward! Your tournament MVP is:

Spoiler

Nathan Powers!

--

 

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM:

 

 F - Alex Johnson, Team Canada (8-5--13)

F - Darth Kaprizov, Team World (8-4--12)

F - Otto Numinen, Team Asia (0-14--14)
 

D - Nathan Powers, Team Canada (9-12--21)

D - Vasili Grigorev, Team Asia (5-7--12)

 

G - Papa Emeritus, Team Europe (0.928 SV% tournament wide, 0.948 SV% in medal rounds)

 

 

Thank you to everyone who made this tournament happen. This year's edition was exceptionally difficult, and included GM resignations, games played under protest, STHS issues, and schedule changes. The resiliency of the GM team was unparalleled, and the WJC couldn't have happened without their unwavering support.

 

As always, the men behind the curtain deserve a special shoutout. Josh and RJ make this thing happen. RJ builds the eligibility lists and GMs would be lost during roster selection without him. Super Simmer Josh helps train the GMs on STHS, while always simming games with a high level of integrity. Thank you, both of you.

 

mentions:

Spoiler

@v.2 @Darth Kaprizov Sr. @Matt thunder @Zetterberg @BrutalBoost @McKelvie @jared @CptSquall @Minion @TheCHEESE @Lazarus @qripll @Willy Myers @Noxalpha @JB123 @Alex_J32 @Otto Numminen @Beketov @Josh @rjfryman @Ledge and Dairy

 

[BrutalBoost 115]

Thank you for the opportunity and thank you to everyone who made this possible.

[JardyB10 4,865]

I had fun and so did everyone else!

[jared 66]

europeeeee

[Darth Kaprizov 98]

Big AL,  thank you for all of the time you offered to help some of us Noobs.  Greatly appreciated!

[v.2 1,406]

A huge silver for Canada!