VSN Presents: S94 World Juniors Championship Recap

[McLovin 470]

VSN Presents: S94 World Juniors Championship Recap!

(Is the graphic in the room with us?)

 

Welcome dear readers to this VSN Edition of (better late than never) the World Juniors recap! It’s been a few days since the medal games were played, and with the VHL season now underway, let’s recap the last tournament of S94 in today’s article! We’ll be covering the Round Robin games and Medal Games as per usual, and will eagerly await the next tournament in a few months! Without further ado, let’s take a look at how the tournament went!

 

Round Robin:

 

 Team Asia: 

 

Starting off our recap, we have maybe the biggest surprise of the entire tournament! Asia actually did well, and did so in the most convincing of fashions finishing first in the standings! Historically, Team Asia has not even been able to field a full roster of players without needing to pull a sizable portion from other teams selection lists. This didn’t prove to be an issue this season however as they fielded one of the best rosters for the Round Robin I’ve seen in recent memory! The biggest note to be made of Team Asia’s performance is that of Pombo @samx and the sheer scale of their offensive prowess. A staggering 27 points in 10 games was a major factor in Team Asia’s success in this first section of the World Juniors. The big question going into the medal round is will Asia be able to compete at this same level when it comes crunch time? We’ll save the answer to that question in the medal round recap coming up later in this article!

 

 Team Canada: 

 

Canada has had a nice resurgence as of late in terms of their competitiveness in the World Juniors, and their 3rd place finish in the round robin has helped to elevate this claim. This team was much more offensively dependent than I think most people would’ve believed they could be, providing point per game performances from 6 players on the team! This was crucial in their push for good seeding as the goaltending was definitely exposed a bit going up against lethal offenses themselves. Despite this, Canada put up a strong showing, and has the potential to make some noise in the medal round! Going into the medal round, the goaltending definitely has to rebound to keep the team competitive, but they have the pieces in place to be able to make a serious run. Between being well rounded in both offense and defense, if the goaltending can pull it around to cap it all off, Canada has more than enough to stake a claim at gold!

 

 Team Europe: 

 

Onto the halfway point, we have Team Europe! Another strong showing from a historical juggernaut in the tournament, Europe showed up in full force and tied Asia for wins in the round robin, but lost 1st place from Asia’s one overtime loss compared to Europe's zero. Europe was another well rounded team, with 6 of their own players being over point per game as well! Aleksanteri Kaskiniemi-Kekkonen @Snussu had a remarkably strong showing in the round robin, putting up a .924 save percentage with a 2.51 goals against average to match! With a team able to fire well on all cylinders, it gives Europe a prime position to be able to reclaim their place as the dominant team in the tournament. The only notable flaw of their showing this season might’ve been their special teams, with their powerplay only converting 10.87%, and their penalty kill only providing success on a little under 3 out of every four penalties. With a lack of conversion on the powerplay especially noted, it may provide a significant hurdle in terms of matching offensive juggernauts like Asia. Time will tell however if this proves to be detrimental in a significant way. 

 

 Team USA: 

 

Nearing the end of our first half of the article, we got Team USA! Despite their position in the standings, they were actually a pretty decent team all around. The power play and penalty kill were both fantastic, and both the goaltenders were putting up fantastic numbers themselves! Interestingly enough though, the teams downfall might’ve been due to a lack of line management and shuffling when chemistry is considered. A single forward line and defensive pairing were -10 and -8 respectively, and most likely contributed to the USA not putting up the record and numbers they could’ve potentially done otherwise. This isn’t a bash against Team USA’s GM whatsoever, but keeping pairs and lines together that aren’t working the entire tournament is definitely an interesting strategy, and this time around holding out did not pay off in the winning column.

 

 Team World: 

 

Onto our last team of the round robin recap, we got Team World! This is a very interesting team to look at face value, and a deeper dive into the team reveals interesting facts! Their leading scorer was Bollos de Trueno @Thunder who, as a defenseman, tied for second in tournament wide scoring for the round robin, and was a cornerstone to this teams success in a few games! With 4 other players also in the point per game category, it’s interesting to see that they weren’t a more successful team in the standings. It could be chalked up to a defensive or goaltending woe that couldn’t be solved, or just the level of competition being fielded against them that put them down to this point in the win column. Nevertheless, they still have a chance to win a medal should they find a remedy to the issues they’ve been facing. Time will tell here as well whether or not this happens. With all being said, let’s take a look at how the medal games went!

 

Medal Round:

 

Wildcard:

 

 Team USA vs. Team World: 

 

 Team USA fights Team World in the Wildcard game to determine who moves onto the proper medal competition. It’s very difficult to describe how this game went as for the first two periods, no goals and only two minor penalties against the USA happened. In the third however, David Pastanap scored at 7:37 to put World up 1-0. Team USA put up a good fight, but after an empty net goal with 18 seconds left in the game, World put USA to bed and moved onto the next round of the tournament!

 

Semi-Finals:

 

 Team World vs. Team Asia: 

 

This may be the most significant game of the tournament with how this showing went down. We had the team who only managed to put up a single goal in almost three periods against Team USA up against the best offensive team in the tournament. This had all the potential to be a fantastic game, and fantastic it was. In the first period on the power play, Samsayz I-Smell put Team World up 1-0. Into the second, Asia tied up the game quickly with an equalizer from Yuki Ishikawa. Only 5 minutes later however, Samsayz I-Smell got their second of the game on yet another power play to put World back on top 2-1. With an absolute hammering of shots from Team World, amounting to 53 across the game, and 19 in the third period alone, Asia couldn’t match the offensive firepower and played most of the game in their own zone, preventing them from tying the game up, and leading to a Team World upset against the top seed!

 

 Team Canada vs. Team Europe: 

 

After that wild game, surely that’d be the most exciting game of the series right? Well Canada and Europe saw that energy and wanted to match it best they could. In the first period alone, there were a whopping 7 goals scored from both teams combined, a goalie substitution from Canada, all ending with a 4-3 Team Europe lead going into the second. Canada managed to tie the game up with a goal from Nikita Yolishev. With no goals in the third, that meant the game would go to overtime, with the winner moving onto the gold medal game! All chips being on the table, and nearly 100 shots being made in the game from both teams combined, it was a shot from Wayne Shotzky on the power play that sent Canada to the gold medal game! An incredible showing from both teams, this semi-final was exciting start to finish for both games! Now, it’s time for the final two games of the tournament, starting with the bronze medal game!

 

Medal Games:

 

Bronze Medal Game: 

 Team Europe vs. Team Asia: 

 

This is a game of pure goaltending, and it was very one sided. Roger Eagles @Greg_Di was absolutely lights out for Team Asia putting up a staggering 53 saves against Team Europe. To start, Team Europe scores on a power play goal 6 seconds into the game. Team Asia then puts up 2 more goals to round out the first period. With a scoreless second period, Boris Bone-Breaker iced the game with a shorthanded goal to put Asia up over Europe. Not letting a goal in for almost an entire game is a remarkable feat, and is very deserving of a medal win for this kind of performance. While this was the only majorly notable thing to happen in this game, we have but one game left to cover. The big one

 

Gold Medal Game:

 Team World vs. Team Canada: 

 

Onto the final game of the tournament, we have the gold medal game! Team World gets off to a hot start in the game, up two goals at the 6 minute mark into the second period with goals from Dwight shcrute and Piston Maicupp. Within a 4 minute timeframe however, Team Canada puts up 3 goals to take the lead over World 3-2 to round out the second period. With an icer from Alexandros Mograine early in the third to put Canada up 4-2, Team Canada pulls off a fantastic run and wins gold in a convincing fashion! 

 

 

I apologize for the delay in getting this article up, I completely ruined my sleep schedule and was unable to write this in a timely manner! Regardless, this was a fantastic WJC and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the games play out, and watching all the players see themselves and their teams compete against the best of the best of the VHLM and E! Thank you to all the readers who got to this point in the article, I’ll make sure to be on top of it for the next tournament! Thank you all for reading!

[Lemorse7 1,021]

@Greg_Di da goat