WJC Update #4

[hylands 838]

Welcome back to another season of the World Junior Championship; as such, it is time for another Daily Review! These series are about best players, surprises, and let downs from the most recent games. Stick around and follow us, as VSN is here to be the media outlet for you and your entertainment!

     

    Also, don’t forget to check out other cool VSN Content produced weekly for your entertainment.

S72: Early Standouts | Deep Rewind | Ringless: Stockholm Vikings | VHL Weekly | Under 250: VHLM Review  

 

What a wonderful tournament these five amazing teams put on this season. Team Europe have come out on top, earning themselves the Gold Medal as back to back champions. Team USA came up short in the finals after a stellar tournament, and are awarded the Silver Medal. Meanwhile, Team Canada were able to dispatch Team World for the Bronze Medal, and Team Asia ended the tournament in 5th place. This recap will take on a slightly different format as I analyze each game of this incredible medal round.

 

Team Asia (4) vs. Team World (6)

This playoff game decided who would go on to the Semi-Finals to play against the top-seeded Team USA. Team World had managed to scrape home-ice advantage on the last day of the Round Robin despite actually losing to Team Asia on the final day of action. This set us up for an amazing playoff round between two hungry teams that were eager to play for a medal. Unfortunately for Team Asia, Team World was determined to be the ones that advanced by jumping out to an early 3-0 lead just 10 minutes into the game, after goals from Xavier leFlamant, Micah Adrienne, and Aleelee Kiak. Team World actually had a 4-0 lead heading into the 2nd period after a late tally by Gary Neal. Team Asia attempted to rally back behind top scorer Jungkok but Team World cut down any hopes of that by adding another two goals, another one from Adrienne and one from DeFenz Mann. Late in the game, Viktor Mjers cut Team World’s lead back to two goals but that was all Team Asia was able to do. Team World would come out on top, winning 6-4 in regulation and booking themselves a ticket to the Semi-Finals.

 

Team World (0) vs. Team United States of America (6)

Continuing their dominant performance in the tournament, Team USA easily dispatched Team World by a score of 6-0, which also happened to be the first shutout of the tournament as well. Team USA had an incredible 61 shots on goal as they showed no mercy to their opponents. Robin Winter and Jack Feriancek scored in the 1st period, followed by a couple of goals from Mickey Dickson. Things were all but said and done before Vin Calia scored the 6th and final goal in an absolute rout of Team World. 

 

Team Canada (3) vs. Team Europe (5)

In the second Semi-Final game, we had a much tighter contest between two great teams in Team Europe and Team Canada. Both of these teams were pegged to be favourites to play for Gold, but as is often the case with these tournaments, only one of them can make it. Special teams played an important role in this game and it was Team Canada who got off to an early lead through Tyler Walker after capitalizing on an early power play. Not to be discouraged, Team Europe answered with a goal of their own from Richard Penisson and then a late marker by Marshall James Frostbeard allowed them to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. Gabriel Gutzwiler added to Team Europe’s lead before Michael Mac showed Team Canada had some grit and got one back right after. Perhaps gaining some confidence from Mac’s goal, SS Hornet scored a late equalizer with 49 seconds to play in the 2nd, tying this game at 3 heading into the 3rd period. Team Canada got into some penalty trouble of their own in the 3rd, and it ultimately spelt their demise, after G. Gutzwiler scored the 2nd goal, and Chris Hylands added some insurance on a late power play. Team Europe was able to see out the game and get a shot at winning back to back Gold Medals.

 

Team World (3) vs. Team Canada (4)

What a game this Bronze Medal contest turned out to be. Two teams that really put out their best efforts in an attempt to acquire some hardware. SS Hornet scored a lone goal for Team Canada in the 1st and they took that lead into the 2nd period. SS Hornet added another goal for its team before Aleelee Kiak finally got Team World on the board. However, just 32 seconds after that goal, Team Canada added another one from Joe Exotic which restored their two-goal cushion. Latrell Mitchell then rounded off the scoring of an action-packed 2nd period and had Team World within touching distance heading into the final frame. It wasn’t until 17:16 of the 3rd period before Timothy Brown scored what ended up being the game-winner on the power play for Team Canada. Aleelee Kiak scored a power-play goal of his own to make things interesting in the last couple of minutes but Team Canada was able to hold on for the win and were rewarded with the Bronze Medal.

 

Team Europe (6) vs. Team United States of America (2)

The tournament’s top two teams met in the Gold Medal game of this season’s tournament. It’s not often you get to see the top-seeded teams battling it out to prove who is truly the best. Team USA won both Round Robin games so they had the slight mental edge coming into this game. Having said that, it was Team Europe who started on the front foot through Leon Gutzwiler and Chris Hylands. Trailing 2-0 heading into the 2nd period, Team USA regrouped and cut the deficit to one after a goal from Jeff Blaze. The Gutzwiler twins then linked up for a goal of their own and restored the two-goal lead for Team Europe. The very next shift, however, Lucas Brandt erased that advantage with a beautiful goal only 16 seconds later. Sadly, that was all the scoring that Team USA would be able to find. Team Europe starting goaltender, Zamboni Driver, made 29 saves in the victory, and our hats are off to Team USA goalie, John Poremba, who faced a whopping 63 shots, and made 57 saves! Bob Helminen, Empty, and Richard Penisson scored the rest of the goals for Team Europe who cruised to victory, and back to back Gold Medals.

 

This concludes our coverage of the Season 72 World Junior Championships. Please join us again next season where VSN will be host to all of your WJC action.

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Edited June 13, 2020 by Hylands33

[Spence King 387]

Amazing up to date coverage of the tournament all week and TONS of great content  thanks so much for all your hard work VSN you killed it again !

 

Edited June 13, 2020 by Spence King

[bluesfan55 103]

gimme dat gold baby