First WJC Gold for Asia!

[Dabnad 194]

Well well well, we are so back. The season is S96, and we can’t believe what we’ve seen. Team Asia has won its first ever gold medal in the World Junior Championship History! What an adventure it has been! I’m honestly still in a bit of shock for what’s happened! For today’s article, we’ll look at some history for Asia, and the current Asian WJC roster, and their journey to this historic landmark!

 

History

Let’s look at a bit of Asian WJC history today to start off! We start off in season S62, the year which the WJC made its debut! Rather, let’s look at the first two seasons. In these seasons, Asia made incredibly strong showings, losing in the finals against Canada both seasons, barely missing out for the gold both years. This leds us to a poor two seasons for Asia, where they held down the last position during S64 and S65. As Asia lobes to do things in multiples, Asia once again came back strong, winning three bronze medals in a row! This seems like a semi-golden age for the Asian team as we’ll see soon, as they once again won silver in S69. S70 was poor once again, finishing last, however, a S71 comeback brings Asia’s last finals appearance for over 10 seasons! Over the span of S62-S71, Asia won 4 silvers, and 3 bronze medals. Looking back, it’s absurd how Asia never won the gold medal in this stretch. Now, comes the first dark age for Asian hockey. From S72 all the way till S75, Asia were unable to make it out of the basement, being stuck in fifth place the whole time! S76 saw a bronze medal loss, putting them fourth for the first time. The next two years saw more bronze medals for the team, before S79 put them back in the basement. S80 saw another bronze, and then they went back in the basement (they tend to do well in the bronze medal games, but terrible in the gold medal games). So now we reach S82 and S83, where the Asians win their final silver medals (accurate till Jan 5th 2025). Now comes what I like to call the second dark age of this team. For 6 consecutive seasons, we see Asia not come outside the basement, as in consecutive seasons from S84-S88, Asia finishes last in the group stages, not even making it to the bronze medal games. S89, S90, and S91 brings upon a stretch of bronze medal games, winning one in S90. After this, Asia fails to win another medal until S94 where we see the bronze medal tally go up once again. Bringing us back to the present day, S96. While that is a lot of words, let’s do a brief summary of the not so outstanding results of Asia.

 

Silver - S62, S63, S69, S71, S82, S83 (6 medals)

Bronze - S66, S67, S68, S77, S78, S80, S90, S94 (8 medals)

 

While we don’t have the best history, this can let us see how terrible Asia is in gold medal games (losing to Canada 3 times, and losing to Europe 3 times), however, still pretty good at just getting that medal, finishing 4th only 5 times!

Current Roster

Well, the season is now 96, so let’s take a look at the current roster which brought us to the taste of gold! We must start off by mentioning our amazing GM @Oatex! He really put this team together in an amazing way, allowing us to fulfil our work to the best ability! He really worked us the best way we can! So let’s look at the lines and each player who made this possible! 
 

(Stolen from Alex’s discord lines)
(LW - C - RW)
Line 1: Devote -  Sheppard - Hudson
Line 2: Nichols - Sikes - Jortikka
Line 3: Moderator -  Lee Jr - Martinez
Line 4:  Devote - Sikes - Jortikka

 

Defense
(LD - RD)
Pair 1: Bone-Breaker - Shaw
Pair 2: Cysteine - Satou
Pair 3: Bone-Breaker - Satou
Pair 4: Cysteine - Shaw

 

Goalies
Starter: Vladmir Trunov (Games 2, 5, 12, 15)
Backup: Draw Mac (Games 3, 9, 13, 20)

 

Let’s look at each individual player, and look at all their amazing contributions, along with the country they represent and how they’re doing in the league right now.

 

Forwards

 

Devote - @eagle_3450

Devote is a left winger, born in Indonesia, and the first and fourth line left winger! He was drafted 20th overall in the VHL draft! He tends to hover over the PPG mark in the VHLE and VHLM, hitting 71 in 72 in S96 (In the VHLM), and 73 in 72 in S95 (In the VHLE). He was a key member of the team Asian team, scoring 4 points in the regular season (8 games), and 4 points in the playoffs (in 3 games).

 

Sheppard - @GoodLeftUndone

Sheppard is a center, and one of the few Canadians on this team, chosen due to the lack of Asians in the league. He played as our first line center, and so far in S97, he has 10 points in 16 games, playing for MIA, being picked 12th overall in the VHLM draft. His campaign with team Asia consists of 4 in 8 during the regular season, along with a goal during the playoffs!

 

Hudson - @ThunderCloud

Hudson is a right winger, playing for his home country of North Korea! He was another man taking charge of the first line, playing as our first line right winger. Unfortunately, he has not been picked up for S97, however, in S96 he rocked 28 points in 72 games for MEX. He was drafted 17th in the VHL. His contributions to Asia were invaluable, with 3 points in the regular season, and a stellar shutdown performance during the playoffs!

 

Nichols - @SlyDigi
Nichols played on the Left wing for the Asia team, playing representing the Philippines! They were an incredibly important piece of this team, working a grit and grind role on the second line! So far this season, they’ve been going at 8 points in 16 games for HFX, playing an important role on the team! They were drafted 32nd in the VHL as well! Regarding Asia’s run, they had 2 points in 8 games during the regular season, and 1 point in 3 during the playoffs!

 

Sikes - @JaySmacksss
Sikes rocked as the middle man, playing center. They were another Canadian playing for Asia! Sikes played a crucial job, playing both on the second line, while also playing on the fourth line as a shutdown role! So far in this season, Sikes has 9 points in 16 games for MIS, and was drafted 25th during the VHL draft! During the WJC run for Asia, Sikes played a great defensive role, while also scoring 2 in 8 during the regular season, and having 4 hits during the playoffs!

 

Jortikka - @Kavadar

Jortikka is a right winger for this team, who recently changed their role to defence, and the Fin absolutely played their role to absolute perfection. Jortikka played on the right wing on the second and fourth line, playing with a purpose, and playing with high intensity. In the VHLM, Jortikka is playing their new defensive role extremely well, playing at over a point a game through the first 16 games for MIA! Jortikka has been drafted 50th in the VHL. For Asia, the Fin was crucial to the team, scoring 2 points in the regular season, however, during the playoffs, they netted 3 points in 3 games!

 

Moderator - @fonziGG

Moderator played as a left winger on the third line for the team. Representing Afghanistan, Moderator was another key member of the team, ensuring a shutdown role on the team! While Moderator hasn’t been able to do much in the VHLM, simply putting up 2 points for HOU this season, however, their contributions to the Asian team were important! During the regular season, Moderator had 10 hits in 8 games, ensuring to be a physical presence at all times! They also put down a point during the playoffs! Moderator was drafted 44th in the VHL! 
 

Lee Jr - @blueredlover
Lee Jr, and American, and another center piece, and center man. Playing on the third line, Lee’s job during this competition was simply to shut down the other team, and be able to get the puck back up ice for the next transition plays, and he played that role amazingly! Lee Jr didn’t have an amazing regular season, however, during the playoffs, Lee Jr was a +1 with a goal! He was drafted 21st in the VHL, and put up 11 points in just 16 games this season in the VHLM!

 

Martinez - @SleepyPlayz

Last but not least, our final forward yet again come from the Philippines, playing on the third line for this grit and grindy team! Despite going point less in the competitions, we can see his impact in the playoffs through his plus minus being a positive 1! He is yet to be drafted to the VHL, however, in the VHLM, he was drafted 15, and currently plays for MEX, having 11 points in 16 games.

Defence 

 

Bone-Breaker - @RileyL

You really cannot talk about this team without talking about their amazing defence and goaltending. Bone-Breaker is a Russian, playing on the first and third pairings, Bone-Breaker was drafted 10th overall in the VHL draft, where they currently play right now for CHI. They have 4 points in 16 games, and is going well for them at the moment! In the WJC, Bone-Breaker was the leading scorer for the team during the regular season, going an outstanding point per game during the regular season. They only sped up during the playoffs, hitting 4 points in 3 games, being an incredibly vital part to the whole game and strategy for the Asian team! His hits and shot blocks were also incredibly important contributions to the team, helping them win the gold medal.

 

Shaw - @Dabnad
Well it’s me! Shaw was another key part of this championship run by team Asia. Shaw, representing India. Shaw had an incredibly poor start to the tournament, being a -6 in the round robins due to his incredibly poor defence. He also only put out 2 points, making it look like he was a failure on the team. Then Shaw remembered how to play hockey during the playoffs, and so he did. During the post season, Shaw put up 5 points, helping team Asia get all the way to win the gold medal! Shaw was drafted 8th in the VHL, and is currently with MAL, with 9 points in 15 games, tied for 10th with all rookies! Shaw played on the first and fourth pairing during this tournament.

 

Cysteine - @Bea

Hello from Vietnam everyone! Cystine was a critical part of this defence as well. Cysteine ensured they were playing shutdown defence during the playoffs, putting up 3 points along the way. Not only were they a 0 during the playoffs, however, they also were a critical part in ensuring that the team was able to work into the finals, and win that finals match! Bea was drafted 24th overall in the VHL, and put up 6 points in the currently season, and is looking like a key player on HFX once again! Cysteine played on the second and fourth paring, working incredibly hard as well!

 

Satou - @Spartan

Last but certainly not least we have Satou. Satou will be representing yet another unique country in Japan! While Satou started off a bit slow in the competition, hitting just 3 points in 8 games during the regular season. As the season went on, and the playoffs started, we saw Satou’s ability, as they get 3 points in 3 games, also scoring the gold medal game winner (ironically against the team they were gming). Sagou played on the second and third pairings. Satou was drafted 2nd overall in the draft, and currently has 10 points in 16 games with LVA!

 

Goaltending 

Vladimir Trunov - @qripll

You really can’t talk about this team without its excellent goaltending! Vladimir was absolutely brilliant in the playoffs, with a 932 save percentage, and 2.38 GAA. His performance in the VHLM has been as good as his performance in the WJCs, posting a 924 with 8 wins, 2.0 GAA, and 2 shutouts for OTT. Absolutely brilliant performance by him. Drafted 10th overall to the VHL, he’s going to be a special player, there is not doubt in anyone’s mind about that!

 

Draw Mac - @okochastar

Last but not least, we end this list off with another Canadian! Draw has been excellent like always. In his one playoff game, he missed an immaculate 941 save percentage, simply letting in 2 goals despite the incredible shots he faced. Draw was amazing, and enabled team Asia to play to their fullest potential. He was drafted 11th to the VHL, and is currently in the VHLM playing for MIA, with a 910, 1.92 GAA, and 3 shutouts in just 16 games!

 

This team was simply incredible! I may add a follow up in the future of how the team worked hard, and battled for their first ever gold medal! You had amazing defence, even better goal tending, and a dream, that these players had to get the first ever gold for Asia, and they did just that. Thank you for reading the article, this is Narnia Shaw, signing off, until next time.

2252 words

Week ending Jan 5th 2025 - Jan 26th, 2025

 

[okochastar 98]

that's massive

[Oatex 269]

Love it! Asia for the win!