S75 World Junior Championship Review!

[Hex Universe 253]

Welcome back to coverage of the World Junior Championship here on VSN, today we will be reviewing how each team performed from 5th place down to the Gold Medalists. We will be taking a look at what went right and what went wrong for each of the teams. The S75 edition of the World Junior Championships ended up being a massive tale of rematches and revenge from S74 in both the Bronze and Gold medal games. Without further ado, let's begin the WJC recap!
 

5TH PLACE: TEAM ASIA
GM: @Blazzer
Round-Robin Record: 2-4-2
Lost Medal Round Qualifier against Team Canada

Unfortunately for GM Blazzer and her Team Asia squad, they would once again be left out of the medal games during the S75 World Junior Championship. After losing 6 of 8 round-robin games, it sadly came as no surprise that their run in the end would be the shortest of the all the teams, leaving after just 9 games in total. It wasn't without some top end players though, with defenseman Kevin Wu having a breakout performance with 3 goals and 6 assists, leading the team on score sheet. Goaltender Rara Rasputin also put up an .930 SV% despite the team's record, including a 34 save shutout against Team Canada. To be honest, Team Asia didn't really have a noticeable flaw besides just having a weaker team than the rest of the field. Overall, Team Asia did the best they could do despite the rest of the competition being stronger.

 

4TH PLACE: TEAM USA
GM: @thadthrasher
Round-Robin Record: 5-3-0
Lost Medal Round Game against Team Europe
Lost Bronze Medal Game against Team Canada

What was potentially the most shocking and disappointing team during this seasons World Junior Championship, Team USA went from the second best team in the round-robin to leaving the tournament without a medal. So what happened that would cause such a downward swing? From my point of view, it was the USA special teams that caused their downfall. Their PK unit especially was probably the weakest of the entire tournament, with their PP unit not doing much to help either. Defenseman Muffbeav had 12 points and forwards Its Gucci and Justin Lose each had 11 points, decent numbers to be sure, although not enough to turn the tides. Hopefully, for Team USA sake, this will light a fire in the team so that when the next World Junior Championship rolls around in S76, the red, white,and blue won't leave feeling blue with the same disappointment as this season.

 

3RD PLACE: TEAM CANADA
GM: @fromtheinside
Round-Robin Record: 3-5-0
Won Medal Round Qualifier against Team Asia
Lost Medal Round Game against Team World
Won Bronze Medal Game against Team USA

Despite the inability to get much of their squads TPA up above 250, Team Canada was able to take back a bronze medal home over rival Team USA after having a fairly weak start to the tournament. GM FromTheInside was able to regroup the team for the medal round games, defeating Team Asia to qualify for a potential medal. Team Canada's near fatal flaw was on offense, only scoring 19 goals throughout the round-robin games. The top point earner on the team was defenseman Zach Kissingler, who only earned 7 points. This means that no players on Team Canada averaged a point per game during the round-robin. Luckily for them, they got the issues worked out just in the nick of time. However, I'm sure Team Canada will be looking to upgrade that bronze to gold next season and return glory to the frozen north.

 

2ND PLACE: TEAM EUROPE
GM: @Ledge_and_Dairy
Round-Robin Record: 3-4-1
Won Medal Round Game against Team USA
Lost Gold Medal Game against Team World

The S74 gold medalists made a return to the gold medal game in S75 under young GM Ledge after running middle of the pack during the round-robin games. Despite the strong team, with players like Vlad Imir and L leading the charge on offense and defense for the Europeans, the team also had massive penalty troubles. How bad was their penalty trouble? They led the round-robin totals by 20(!) PIM with 116 minutes of sin bin time in total. These issues would continue to press on even in the medal games, where it wouldn't be a surprise if that was the difference between leaving with gold or leaving with silver. Otherwise, the Europeans had a strong showing and it gave GM Ledge a good light on him in his first managerial role. I'm sure Team Europe will be looking to reclaim their golden throne in S76.


 

FIRST PLACE: TEAM WORLD
GM: @JigglyGumballs
Round-Robin Record: 7-1-0
Won Medal Round Game against Team Canada
Won Gold Medal Game against Team Europe

Now, it is time to talk about the winners of the S75 World Junior Championship, Team World. Hungry and angry from getting oh so close to gold in S74, they struck teams with vengeance. Under returning GM JigglyGumballs, the worldwide misfits would go on a tear throughout the round-robin, only having a minor slip up during a game against Team Canada. MVP of the tournament Pistil Stamen of Brazil would record 19 points between all 10 games played for Team World. The final pin in the hat was in the gold medal game as they would enact revenge upon Team Europe for the game of yester-season, Team World would win the gold medal game in a convincing 5-2 victory over Team Europe. Certainly a victory that must taste oh so sweet after the previous season and a victory that they will look to repeat in S76.



In conclusion, the S75 edition of the World Junior Championship was filled with much drama and excitement. I'm sure the VHL is incredibly happy to have so much young talent coming up through the ranks. It shows the league is as healthy as ever and will certainly be a joy to see what all of these players will be doing in the future. For now though, thank you for tuning into the Victory Sports News coverage of the World Junior Championship. I am Hex Rose and for all of us at VSN, we say thank you and see you all next season!

[Blazzer 759]

Team Asia....

[Ledge 1,131]