WJC Daily Review #7

[Mr_Hatter 1,603]

 
 
Welcome back to the final edition of the  WJC Daily Review, a series in which we will talk about best players, surprises, letdowns and more! Thank you for tuning in for our coverage of the World Junior Championship.

 

 
The final matches have been played, the podium has been set, and it’s all over folks! Team Europe has taken the gold medal, upsetting Team Asia by a score of 5-3 in a classic WJC finals matchup. Team USA continued their run of good form and managed to win bronze, shutting out Team Canada with two goals to none. Let’s dive right into the games, and see how the final day of this season’s WJC unfolded!
 
 
Finals: Team Europe vs Team Asia
 
Going into the match, Team Asia was certainly the favourite, having beaten Team Europe at both of their round-robin matchups, but nobody was counting out the European side that many thought to be the favourites to win prior to the tournament. It was thought to be a test between Asia’s deadly top forwards and the depth of the European lines. 
 
The first period started with a power-play goal from Will Clarke to put Team Asia up a goal. Asia converted again with another blue-liner getting on the score sheet, Odin Omdahl. They looked poised to take the game and were firing on all cylinders. Before the end of the period, however, Team Europe reeled it back in, scoring their own power-play goal from Roadkill Steve. Scoring on the power-play was a common event this game, as five of the eight goals came with a man advantage. The first period was a strong one for Asian goalie Jimmy Spyro, who allowed just the single goal on a whopping 18 shots. Unfortunately, this good form did not quite continue as he would go on to concede 4 of the remaining 24 shots throughout the next two periods. 
 
Entering the second period, Team Asia held a one-goal lead, but after Europe equalized, they would not lead again the rest of the match. The second period was the Guy Lesieur show, as the forward scored two goals within 3 minutes to take the lead back for the Europeans. This set us up for a dramatic finish and a third period that certainly delivered on the hype.

Early on in the 3rd, Team Europe was able to extend their lead two seconds into their power-play, giving them a two-goal buffer between them and Team Asia. It seemed all but hopeless for Team Asia. They had conceded 4 unanswered goals in the span of about two periods. However, with about three and a half minutes to play, Team Europe was called for a double-minor penalty for high sticking on Guy Lesieur, the man who had been so instrumental in Europe’s comeback. Asia was able to convert on their power play, but not until the first minor penalty had been killed, leaving them just a  minute and 23 seconds of even-strength hockey to equalize. Unfortunately for Team Asia, they weren’t to remain at even strength for long as they were called for hooking shortly thereafter, spending the majority of the rest of the game on the penalty kill. With two seconds left to play and hope all but lost, Edu Stava clinched the game, scoring yet another power-play goal for the Europeans. Just like that, Team Europe had won the gold medal. 
 
Bronze Medal: Team USA vs Team Canada
 
To decide who would join Team Asia and Europe on the podium we turned to a North American show match between Team USA and Team Canada. Despite their recent run of good form, Team USA was still the underdogs to a group of Canadians that were at least on paper the better team. This didn’t affect the Americans however, who, being used to the underdog position, put on a defensive masterclass to win the bronze medal. Earning the well-deserved first star of the game was Team USA’s netminder Virgil Ligriv, whose 29 save shutout backstopped the Americans to their medal. 
 
The game-winner came from Shawn Glade Jr halfway through the first period. This was all that separated the teams until a late goal in the 3rd period to clinch the victory from Tony Bolonee. The game was gritty from start to finish and wasn’t without its sloppy moments. The second period alone amassed six minor penalties, split evenly by the teams at three apiece. During this time, each team only managed six shots. 
 
At the end of the day, the defence from Team USA is what won them the game, despite being outshot by the Team Canada. They slowed the game down to their pace and earned themselves the bronze medal after a long, hard-fought WJC.
 
 
Closing Thoughts:
 
As always, this WJC was full of twists and turns. Some results were expected, some were surprising, but all of them were entertaining. Team Asia’s rise to dominance in the round-robin may leave them feeling somewhat disappointed in their finish, but considering how little was expected of them prior to the tournament, they should be proud of their performance. They were the best represented in the final awards out of any team, with both Hiroshi Okada and Jerry Wang featuring in the All-Team of the tournament, not to mention Jimmy Spyro earning his place as the top goalie and overall MVP of the tournament. 
 
Team Europe and Team Canada performed about as well as they were expected to. Many thought Team Europe was set to win the competition, and they proved a formidable threat throughout. Two of the biggest surprises this year were Team World and Team USA, though for vastly different reasons. Team World was also expected to feature prominently, but disappointed, and were knocked out in the play-in game by the aforementioned Team USA. The Americans, on the other hand, greatly exceeded the expectations people had for them. Very few analysts considered them any threat, and despite their slow start in the round-robin stage, they went on a Cinderella run that found them earning their third-place finish at the S69 WJC.
 
All in all, this year’s WJC ticked all the boxes, and we at VSN want to thank all those who had a hand in organizing and running it all, from the commissioners to the simmer and GMs. Thank you all for your hard work!
 

 
That is it for now! Thank you for tuning in to our coverage. 
Until next season, this has been the WJC Daily Review. Good night!

 

People Mentioned: @Will, @zepheter, @stevo, @Spyro, @KC15, 

@Edustava, @MMFLEX, @ShawnGlade, @Tbeez99, @enigmatic, @ColeMrtz
 
 

VSN Writer Mr_Hatter 

[Walter Fizz 84]

Why am I not in this?

[DarkSpyro 760]

Great tournament with great coverage, thanks for the hard work putting these articles together!

[Mr_Hatter 1,603]

7 hours ago, Walter Fizz said:

Why am I not in this?

Fair criticism; I meant to write in a line about you, but I realize now I forgot! I think your performance, especially in the final match, was impressive, considering your relatively low TPE total. Keep in mind not everybody can be mentioned in every article though  Congratulations on the gold!

[Cxsquared 455]

FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY