VSN Presents: S96 World Juniors Championship Recap!

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(Graphic Credit: @LucyXpher)

 

VSN Presents: S96 World Juniors Championship Recap

 

Welcome, dear readers, to yet another VSN Edition of (better late than never) the World Juniors recap! The medal round is all said and done and what a historic WJC it was! We had upsets, we had heartbreak, and this was certainly one for the record books! Without further ado, let’s jump straight into the WJC and finally make a VSN post for the first time in like 3 months.

 

Round Robin:

 

 Team Asia:

 

Asia had a very misleading round robin showing. Despite only putting up a 3-5 record, we all know what ended up happening down the line, but we won’t spoil it for those who somehow haven’t heard the news! Led by Boris Bone-Breaker @RileyL, the team had very little offensive production in its 8 game showing. Boris was the only player to reach a point-per-game production and the next highest scorer on the team only racked up 4 points. The story of this team, however, has to be it’s incredible goaltending tandem in Draw Mac @okochastar & Vladimir Trunov @qripll. This duo managed to put up a .935 & .920 save percentage, as well as a 2.16 & 2.76 GAA respectively. I’ve always been one of the loudest voices in the VHL that goaltending wins championships, and Asia with this tandem could do anything it wanted (except give a forward more than a 0.5 PPG average). Time would tell if this tandem would be able to hold its own against the juggernaut offensive firepower of the teams yet to be mentioned.

 

 Team Canada: 

 

In the round robin, Canada went on to show the rest of the tournament just how well-rounded of a team it truly was! Canada’s top four scorers were all defensemen, putting up just under or just over a point per game pace! This is good and bad in multiple ways, but we’ll cover the obvious one first. While you love to see your defensemen getting involved in the play, they shouldn’t be the *only* ones doing so. The first forward on the scoring list to show up only had 6 points and was a -1 through the tournament's round robin. This was actually a problem for the entire team, high scoring D-men included. The highest +/- rating on the entire team was only a +2 and it came from a depth scoring winger. When you struggle 5 on 5 in those regards, you need to get bailed out-- and yet again we have another goalie going above and beyond for their team, this time in the form of Kendra Cavill @Firekiss. While the numbers are fantastic with a .926 save percentage and a 2.2 GAA, there’s a major glaring issue with this. Kendra started all 8 games in the round robin, which means Canada would have to start their cold backup in the medal round games. It’s a serious gamble, and we’ll see later on in this article if it paid off for them!

 

 Team Europe:

 

Europe came out of the round robin absolutely guns blazing! Led in points by defenseman Einar Mathiesen @xsjack & left winger Filip Zinek @FiZi, the Europeans had arguably one of the most well-rounded teams going into the medal round. While they didn’t have the absolutely lights-out goaltending of previous teams mentioned, they followed Canada’s trend of starting a single goalie for every game of the round robin, forcing them to play their backup in the medal rounds. While the gamble is exactly that for Canada, a gamble, the Europeans have a much deeper team and had a much better showing in the first 8 games of the tournament. Having 3 players be produce at a point-per-game and all playing at different positions definitely helps, but their 5v5 numbers leave room for improvement, no doubt. We’ll see later down the line how well the Europeans did in their own medal games too, but so far, very, very interesting teams are coming into this tournament.

 

 Team USA:

 

Up next on our list we have the first place round robin finisher, Team USA! They put on an absolute clinic this round robin, and the numbers match the standings across the board-- three players at 10 points in three games, five players at nearly a point-per-game or over! This was an offensive team, through and through. Their top EIGHT scorers were all forwards, so let that go to show just which way Team USA went in their team building. Despite the heavy tilt towards one end of the ice for point production, don’t let it elude you just how good the defense was too. Jon Webber III @Webberj started all 8 games for Team USA and was an absolute brick wall in those games. Posting a .929 save percentage and a 2.33 goals against average, Webber made sure to keep the USA in every single game he played, and more than earned his starting spot for the team. As has been the trend so far in this tournament, however, with him starting all 8 games, their backup is going to have to start off the medal round for them (but I’m saving a nice little reveal later in the article as to why that happened )

 

 Team World: 

 

Onto the last team of the round robin alphabetically, we have Team World. World certainly struggled with keeping the puck out of their net at five-on-five this tournament, despite really solid numbers from both their goalies in the 5 and 3 games they played respectively. Onyekachukwu Chidieber Oluwaseun @TenIQ went 1-3-1, posting a .916 save percentage and 2.57 goals against average, which is commendable and an incredibly strong showing considering the team he had in front of him. The big surprise, however, came in their backup, Brian S @Bigb33. In only three games-- and despite posting a 1-1-1 record-- Brian posted an outstanding .936 save percentage and a WHOPPING 1.63 goals against average. For this rookie goaltender, having numbers like that and losing more games than you win is just diabolical. Team World struggled immensely with scoring, having only two players at or above a point-per-game average. While leaning on your goalies is a pretty tried and true method to win games, it’s usually on the back of a solid offense, or a strong defense as the stopgap between the goalies being the only show worth watching during the games. With a goaltending battle happening in net, it’s interesting to see which way Team World decided to go once we enterthe medal round in this article, which according to my calculations, is right now!

 

 

Medal Round:

 

Quarter-Finals:

 

 Team Asia vs. Team World :

 

We had an absolute nail biter to get started in the medal round as Team Asia faced off against Team World. It was a far cry from the goaltending battle that we expected and alluded to in the round robin coverage as 7 goals were scored between both teams. Sidney Sheppard @GoodLeftUndone set the pace 19 seconds into the game with a quick wrister from the slot. On the powerplay, two minutes later, Jean-Pierre Devote on a masterclass tic-tac-toe play gets Asia up to 2-0 early. Team World answered back 6 minutes later with an absolute bomb from the right side from Youre Not Fucking Retiring @twists and we end the period at a score of 2-1. Team World must’ve had a very strong speech by the coach or captain in the locker room because they came into the second with fire. Cj Daniels @xNJDevilsFanx and Victory Hockey League @TheHockey_pro put World up 3-2 entering the third, and this game looked like it’d come down to the absolute wire as to who would prevail. As the time started ticking down, with 4:06 left in the game, Narnia Shaw @Dabnad, on the powerplay, ties the game up for Team Asia and we were headed to overtime! Special teams for Asia were pulling through, but it was an even strength blueline cannon of a shot from Armas Jortikka @Kavadar that won the game for Team Asia! With a three point night from Jean-Pierre Devote and a solid showing from their goalie, Asia put the tournament on notice that they don’t go down easy anymore, and we move on to the semi finals!

 

Semi Finals:

 

 Team Asia vs. Team USA :

 

The true David vs. Goliath showdown you’ve been waiting for, it’s up-and-coming Team Asia versus the juggernaut, Team USA, and what an absolutely incredible game it was. The score stayed even in the first 20 minutes and it was a game of physicality as both teams were just trying to wear the other down to get an opportunity to present itself-- and opportunity did exactly that.  33 minutes into the game, the first goal was scored by Ocean Codoller @FreshOceanCod and Team USA found itself up 1-0 entering the third. It’d been a game of goaltending so far as well, as Jon Webber III (who was meant to sit out this game, but due to an error beyond the teams control was allowed to play) put on an absolute clinic of a goaltending showing! Here’s where it gets fun though, as we entered the third, Team Asia tied the game 50 seconds in off of an absolute snipe from Jean-Pierre Devote. Keep an eye out for this guy, as he had a knack for showing up right when the team needed him most. The Americans came back 2 minutes later on the powerplay and Ocean Codoller scored his second of the night to put Team USA in the lead once more! Boris Bone-Breaker recorded his second assist of the night on a close up tap-in by Michael Lee Jr @blueredloverto tie the game for Asia once more, and as the time started ticking down, it was anybody's game! Who would step up and be the hero for their team and nation/continent? As it turns out, who else but Boris Bone-Breaker himself off an absolute dot of a pass from Narnia Shaw to put Team Asia up with just over 4 minutes remaining! The time ticks down and Team Asia wins! They’re off to the Gold Medal game!

 

 Team Canada vs. Team Europe :

 

With a game like the Team Asia and USA game, it was going to be hard to match the energy, but it was a great game nonetheless! In this one, it was another neck and neck game, defined pretty aptly by special teams, special plays, and special players! The first period got started and we got 4 goals out the gate, including a game tying goal from Ty Duke @TheDuke with only 32 seconds remaining in the first period to make it a 2-2 game at the break. Despite the high scoring first, the second was completely silent, apart from the high sticking minor penalties for both teams! As the third started, it was another showcase of the Canadian powerplay as 3 minutes apart, Canada puts up 2 more power play goals to make it 3 on the night, running up the score to 4-2 with 10 minutes remaining. Despite a last minute rally by Team Europe with a goal from Taavetti Jokinen @Ahma, the Europeans fell to the Canadians and the stage was set for the two medal games!

 

Medal Games:

 

Bronze Medal Game : 

 

 Team USA vs. Team Europe :

 

 In the bronze medal game, we finally got that goaltending battle that we’d been waiting for all tournament. Deadpanda @Alex and the Europeans faced off against Jon Webber III and the Americans to walk away from the tournament with some hardware. After being upset by Team Asia, Team USA came into this game with every intent to ensure that didn’t happen again, but Team Europe had other ideas. 5 minutes into the first, Einar Mathiesen put the Europeans up 1-0. With only a couple of penalties called in the period, it was otherwise quiet. A true goaltending battle had begun. 11 minutes into the second, the only goal scored in the period came from Inker Belle @WildfireMicro to get the game tied up at one apiece. A combined 51 shots on goal from both teams at this point of the game just goes to show how serious both these goalies were about keeping their team in it until the end. With another 13 shots on goal in the third, one squeaked past Webber during a breakdown play with 3:28 remaining in the game, and Deadpanda shut the door to win the game and the Bronze Medal for the Europeans! This was an absolutely amazing game, and when the goalies put up a .962 and a .955 save percentage respectively, it’s no wonder it was such a low scoring game. It could’ve gone either which way, and just goes to show how good these two teams truly were when it comes down to it-- but beware the wrath of juggernaut teams who walk away with nothing because they’re gonna be back with a vengeance, as has been proven time and time again in these WJC tournaments!

 

Gold Medal Game :

 

Team Asia vs. Team Canada :

 

The big one, the one for all the marbles, the final game. Team Asia and Team Canada met each other for all the glory and bragging rights, and I’d argue this game was by far the best of the entire tournament. Without further ado, let’s take a look at how the final game shaped up to be. After the first, it was merely a 1-0 Team Asia game.  Vladimir Trunov came to win and he was perfect after 20. 40 minutes go by and it was a 2-1 game. Trunov was still holding strong with 21 saves, but the pressure was starting to mount. Early in the third, Nikita Yolishev @Joel Main potted his second of the night to tie the game, and the goalies held the scored in a deadlock until the end of regulation. This Gold Medal game was going to overtime, one golden goal to win it all. Team Asia had a chance to make history in the WJC, but who would step up for them? Boris Bone-Breaker took the puck into the zone on the powerplay, skating around, but didn't find anything he liked so he whipped a shot on goal to keep up the offensive zone pressure. The puck bounced off Kendra Cavill’s pad and straight onto the stick of Kazuma Satou @Spartan ! Time stopped. The entire history of Team Asia in the WJC had been nothing but heartbreak and blowouts, but this golden opportunity had come, and Satou wasn't going to miss. Kazuma Satou let the shot off towards the open goal--back of the net, buzzer, game! Team Asia won the Gold Medal in overtime for the first time in tournament history! The arena erupted in cheers and the blaring of the goal horn. History was made and Team Asia are your S96 WJC Gold Medal Champions!

 

This was such a fantastic WJC, and I sincerely apologize for the amount of time it took for me to get this article out. Work has been a massive headache, but I decided to sit down over these last couple days and really try to hammer it out while I have some free time. A historic WJC like this deserves the best coverage possible, so I hope I was able to give it the love and care it deserves. Thank you to anybody who read this far, here’s to an incredible WJC and history being made!

Edited 15 hours ago by LucyXpher

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