S55 WJC - Team World

[Dalton Wilcox 85]

 

S55 WJC - Team World

 

 

In honour of theme week, Dalton Wilcox, S67 WJC Gold medallist  with Team World, decided to do some digging on when the last time Team World won the gold medal.  Unfortunately, based off the available indexes, all Wilcox could find was that the last time Team World made it to the gold medal game was in S55.  Without further ado, let’s dig a little deeper.

 

The roster:

 

Forwards:

• Daring Do

• Charles Murphy

• Alexander McKinley

• Arbin Asipi

• Carmen Fung

• Ariana Grande

• Rudy Tabootie

 

Defense:

• Emil Martinov

• Hodor

• Darryl Took

• Klaus Baustein

• Mr Shakedown

 

Goaltenders:

• Ike Arkander

• Michael Roy

 

Looking at the statistics of this tournament, Daring Do was the highest goal scorer of the tournament with 12 goals in 8 games, although he finished 6th in scoring by adding 5 assists for a total of 17 points.  The next highest Team World player was Charles Murphy with 11 points (4 goals, 7 assists).

 

As a team, Team World, was very middle of the pack.  They ranked fourth in goals for, and third in goals against, with 3.75 for both.  A middling offence and middling defense to be sure.

 

In their first game, team World lost big time to team USA in the first game, 7-4.  In their second game against Team Europe, it was much closer, but they still lost 5-4.  Although they lost, Team World started to showcase balanced scoring amongst all 4 lines.  Their next game against Team Asia resulted in a win, with Daring Do leading the way with a hat trick ,with the final score of 6-2.  However, they were shut out their next game against Team Canada 5-0, who are always a perennial favourite. Team World would go on to win their next three games, highlighted by revenge wins against the Team Canada 3-0 and Team USA 7-3.  Team World really would enter the playoffs rolling and on a high note.

 

In the semi finals, their first matchup was against Team Canada with whom they split the round robin games.  Daring Do put up his second hattrick of the tournament and Michael Roy was stellar in net in the 5-1 victory.  Team World would advance to the goal medal game having won their last 4 games.

 

The gold medal game against Team Europe ended up being really tough for Team World.  Perhaps they ran out of gas on their run to the finals but the offense just wasn’t there in a 5-1 loss.  The only goal came from not surprisingly Daring Do but Team World did manage 27 shots. Goalie Key Perought of Team Europe was a brick wall throughout the game.

 

Although this rag tag group of World players ultimately did not end up winning gold, they should feel proud of their run to the finals, as many did not expect them to get that far.  Wilcox felt he did them right in S67 by winning gold with another immensely underrated team. Not many chose Team World to win, or even finish in the top three but Wilcox feels that the S55 WJC team can look can be proud of the S67 team.