Picked

[jRuutu 2,426]

Rosters for the upcoming season 71 junior world championship have been announced, perhaps surprisingly I was named into the European roster! I say surprisingly because those who followed last years tournament might remember that I did not exactly dominate or anything, had two points in ten games, but Team Europe won bronze, so I personally have good memories from the tournament, hopefully, we can take one more step forward as a team and make it into the finals. A lot more is expected from me offensively, so I have a lot to prove, especially since I´m one of the players who have already made the jump to the big show.

 

Let's take a quick look on the roster and start from the centers, solid group of players. Ola Vikingstad and Leon Gutzwiler already playing in VHL, behind that duo young Ray Sheilds who has 93 points in 52 games for Yukon, so we got a lot of quality in the middle.

 

Leading the winger group we have Uhtred, 27 points in 48 games for Seattle. He and Vikingstad going to be our main scoring threat? The pair plays together in Seattle.  Another interesting potential duo is the Gutzwiler brothers, winger Gabriel plays in the same team with Leon, so what comes down to chemistry - does it get any better than this? For me a lot of joy brings the selections of Valtteri Vaakanainen and Bob Helminen, Helminen a Helsinki draft pick and Vaakanainen is going to be one in the upcoming draft, so the Helsinki trio with me included is going to round up the winger group. Both Helminen and Vaakanainen are playing in the juniors, so this tournament is the first real opportunity for Helsinki fans to watch the future forward core in action together!

 

Moving on to defense, the biggest name of course is Roque Davis, 37 points for Davos and the second overall pick, so a lot is on his shoulders, but Europe has an interesting defensive group. Zyrok12 has 94 points and 83 assists in 52 games for Yukon,  Zyrok is an excellent puck-moving defender. Defensive defender King Kruul provides exactly that, defense. 134 hits and 84 penalty minutes, but still 40 points for Las Vegas, so Kruul can do more than just be a mean looking figure on the blueline.

 

Rounding up the D core we have Rich Dickbutt McFudderdudder, a man with the most unlucky name, but he can still play hockey. 68 points and whopping 19 goals, look for Rich and his cannon of a shot. Overall, we have the puck-moving ability of Davis and Zyrok, toughness of Kruul and firepower from McFudderdudder - excellent mix!

 

Finally, the goalies, who is going to be the starter? Joakim Bruden or Isak Sjostrom? Last year Sjostrom started 5 games in round-robin and Bruden the rest, but Bruden also started the semi and bronze final games. Bruden has 44 wins in the strong Ottawa team with 90.4 save percentage and 2.41 goals against on average, Sjostroms numbers are 36 wins for currently third-placed Philadelphia, 90.1 save percentage and 2.61 goals against on average. Not much between the two in all honesty.

 

I think we have more than realistic chance to make it into the finals this year, solid balance in the roster with a little bit of everything in there and of course the icing on the cake the goalies, two good ones, so the coaches do not have to worry about that part, the one who is hot starts and team has a chance to win - all you can ask for.