#49/2013 IIHF WJC Blog

Biscuits and Breezers

World Junior Championships:

Day 1

  

           As we all know, something has come to fill the lockout void in every hockey fan's and player's heart. That would be the 2013 IIHF World Junior Championships in Ufa, Russia. Some of the prospects from the 2012 NHL Entry Draft are competing in this tournament much like they will some day playing in the NHL, some of the players are already in the NHL like Edmonton Oilers star player Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and some are key players for the 2013 NHL Entry Draft this coming June. This tournament, for North American viewers, has brought the first elite level broadcasted hockey game(s) since the L.A. Kings hoisted the Stanley Cup back in mid-June. We had 4 games played today in the tournament and I am here to catch up all of you who didn't get to see the games. Game 1 was Finland vs. Latvia, Game 2 was Canada vs. Germany, Game 3 was Sweden vs. Czech Republic, and Game 4 was Russia vs. Slovakia. Let's dive into the game reviews!

Game 1 - Finland vs. Latvia 

    The final score was 5-1 with Finland winning the match in Group A. Artturi Lehkonen opened the scoring just 1:54 into the first period. Latvia evened the score at 8:24 with an answer from Nikolajs Jelisejevs' stick. This would be Latvia's last goal in the entire game with Finland scoring 4 more unanswered goals. Miro Aaltonen led the Finns with 2 goals and 1 assist. Unfortunately, Miro left the game with a severe ankle injury and the IIHF made it official via Twitter today that Aaltonen's tournament presence is done. 2011 NHL Draft pick for the Calgary Flames Markus Granlund and potential top 10 draft pick in the 2013 NHL Draft Rasmus Ristolainen contributed Finland's 2 other goals. The Finns out shot Latvia 44 to 12. Finland will go up against the Czech Republic of Friday and Latvia try to gain a win tomorrow against Switzerland.

Game 2 - Canada vs. Germany

   The final score was a crushing 9-3 victory for Team Canada. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had 5 totals points in this game while being on the "Blowout" line with Jonathan Huberdeau and Mark Scheifele as they produced a final of 10 total points. Canada had goals from 8 different players with 5 players racking up multiple points.  Canada's team looked clean cut, organized, and without a doubt one of the best teams in this competition. There were a few defensive slip ups but overall you get my point. Goaltender Malcolm Subban was great in the cage, after fighting for the starting goaltending spot with Jordan Binnington, and Subban will be in the net for the next game against Slovakia on Friday. Nugent-Hopkins assisted on power play goal by defenseman Xavier Ouellet at 3:02, then Ryan scored his first goal 6 minutes later. Tobias Rieder tied it up for Germany at 19:30 to cut Canada's lead in half. Mark Scheifele scored a goal early in the second period with an assist from Nugent-Hopkins, then Jonathan Huberdeau, Ty Rattie, and Ryan Strome all scored to lead 6-1. Leo Pfoderl assisted on Rieder's goal and then scored his own goal at 16:22 to make is 6-2 for Germany. Then the blowout line struck again with a goal from Scheifele and an assist from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The Blowout line now has a total of 4 goals and 10 points. Jonathan Drouin, who was suffering from a mild charleyhorse injury during practice on Christmas, scored to make it 8-3 Canada and then Tyler Wotherspoon scored to make it 9-3 in Canada's favor. Germany's goaltender Elmar Trautmann made 37 saves with 46 shots on goal. Malcolm had a total of 27 saves for 30 shots on goal. Just for a fun fact, with this win, Canada has won the 14th straight World Junior tournament opener. As I said before, Canada goes up against Slovakia on Friday while Germany faces off against Team USA tomorrow.

Game 3 - Sweden vs. Czech Republic

     Due to a concussion, one of Sweden's star players Hampus Lindholm was cut from the roster, first off. This is quite upsetting to me personally because Hampus was one of my favorite draft picks from last year's Entry Draft. Sweden is on the course to defend their gold medal from last year's tournament as they beat the Czech Republic 4-1 and are now smoothly running right along with fellow Scandinavian country and major rival; Finland. Joel Lassinantti made 25 saves today for Sweden while Matej Machovsky saved 37 shots for the Czech Republic. In total, Sweden had goals from Sebastian Collberg, Elias Lindholm, Filip Sandberg, and Filip Forsberg with Mikael Vikstrand adding 2 assists. Lukas Sedlak scored the lone goal for the Czech Republic. Montreal Canadiens prospect Sebastian Collberg drew the first blood at 2:16 and top European prospect for the 2013 NHL Entry Draft Elias Lindholm doubled the score just over a minute later. Filip Sandberg added a goal early in the second before captain Filip Forsberg closed the game with a goal on Machovsky with his first goal of the tournament midway through the third period. Joel Lassinatti almost had a shut out until the final 6 seconds of the game when Lukas Sedlak snuck in a one last attempt for the Czechs. The Czech Republic looks to gain a win against Finland on Friday while Sweden goes up against Switzerland in a favorable matchup the same day.

Game 4 - Russia vs. Slovakia

     Major hockey power, Team Russia, had a major scare with an almost lose to Team Slovakia in overtime. This game was full controversy right off the bat. Russia scored first with a great goal from the stick of Nikita Kucherov with an assist from Mikhail Grigorenko that should have been called for offsides. Russia's team is full of  2012 Draft Picks including Nail Yakupov, Mikhail Grigorenko, Andrey Makarov, and Andrey Vasilevskiy while the Slovakian team only has one draft pick in the form of Peter Ceresnak. Russia again expanded their lead when Alexander Khokhlachev beat Slovakian goaltender Adam Nagy with an assist from Andrei Sigaryov. Adam Nagy was a huge part of the Slovakian team for much of the game constantly saving goal after goal. A goal from Matus Matis late in the second period pulled Slovakia into the running. A major upset was Russia's Maxim Shalunov's penalty with 4 minutes in the sin bin for cross checking a Slovakian skater to the face. Richard Mraz then forced a goal to tie it all up the 36 seconds remaining in regulation time. The Russians thought this would be an easy win but Slovakia definitely put up a fight. Unfortunately, Slovakia didn't have anything left in them to end the game, but Russia's Albert Yarulin did. He fired one into the back of the net with 10 seconds remaining in overtime. Due to the fact that overtime wins are only credited with one point, the host team now stands one point behind Team Canada for second place in the Group B standings.

3 Stars of the Games

1. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Canada

     Ryan almost reached a perfect game for Team Canada. He had 1 goal and 4 assists and had some contribution to Canada's first 4 goals. He is looks perfectly satisfied between wingers Jonathan Huberdeau and Mark Scheifele. 

2. Adam Nagy Slovakia

     Adam allowed only 3 goals in 27 shots against Russia. He had tremendous effort and kept digging Slovakia out of the holes they dug themselves into. Nagy's saves earned the Slovakians crucial points against hockey super power Russia in what was thought to be an easy game.

3. Miro Aaltonen Finland

      Miro scored twice and had 2 assists in Finland's victory today against Latvia. He is now tied with Jonathan Huberdeau and Ryan Strome for the second highest point percentage of the day. Untimely, Miro will not be returning to the remainder of the tournament due to an ankle injury that will ultimately sideline him for much of the games.

      Thanks for reading another blog of Biscuits and Breezers! Every blog will be filled with updated hockey news, player reviews, and much more! Until next time remember, don't get your breezers in a bunch because hockey is always around the corner. Remember, it's always a great day for hockey and it's not just a sport it's a lifestyle!