WJC post tournament report: James Rose

[mattyIceman 1,035]

"Man, what a fun ride that was!"

 

James Rose, amidst the failure of moving onward past the semi finals in the s72 World Junior Championship, truly cherished his experience.

 

"It was simply incredible to play with and against such awesome players.  I had played with Kamenov last season in Mexico, Mjers was my defense partner in Halifax at the start of this season and we had some pretty great games over there, before we got moved to other teams.  Now I play with Riley Knight Gee in Houston and we didn't get paired together but hey, I'm not the coach or in management.  We're still trying to hold down some kind of fort in Houston, so we have our hands full with that at the moment."

 

Rose did manage to have a decent tournament.  While playing with rookie VHLers and top echelon VHLM players, he did manage to put up a solid performance in the round-robin tournament.  Rose finished 5th on team in scoring with a goal and seven assists in eight games, maintaining an even plus-minus, leading the team in hits with 27 and getting only 3 minor infractions called against him.  Other interesting stat lines include finishing second in the tournament in blocked shots with 25, one less than leader and teammate, Viktor Alexei Kamenov, with 26.  His hit total is good for 5th best, and the most glaring stat that should be paid attention to is his total minutes played. With 236 minutes played, he's good for 6th highest workload in the tournament.

 

"Yeah the whole experience was pretty thrilling, but out there on the ice, those were some REALLY tough minutes..." said Rose.  "Many of the guys out there were really in it to win it.  That's what was thrilling the most.  Even the locker rooms were pretty active and eager to intermingle, everyone wanted to bring their 'A' game, everyone assumed a role, even the trash talkers.  I got to see some familiar faces, like Chris Hylands and Timothy Brown, and meet so many new people.  From top to bottom, it was incredible."

 

"That last game against Europe, we weren't good.  I was dreadful, I played 31:28, was a minus three and i have so many bruises from blocking what seemed like 20 shots, even though the stats say seven shots blocked.  It was a difficult game to get a rhythm going, power plays and penalty kills, I was really gassed and I hate admitting that, I wasn't good and I realized from that point, I need to get to another level..."

 

Despite being out of the tournament, Rose is back in Houston, trying to help get his squad out of last place.  He even showed his happy-go-lucky type personality when being asked who was going to win it all.

 

"Well, right now it looks like the US got their big boy pants on after we defeated them on day one, heh.  They'll most likely win it all, but I hope I'm wrong.  I'd like to see Europe win, get Hylands another moment of glory"

 

"Man, what a fun ride that was.  What an experience for rookies..."

 

 

People mentions:

@BigTittySmitty Kamenov

@a_Ferk Brown

@InstantRockstar Mjers

@Hylands33 Hylands

@KnightRiley Knight Gee

 

Edited June 12, 2020 by MattyIce