World Juniors

Dummy Hoy

Angry Pissbum
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5 players from MA on the US team, which is good, been a bit thin as of late. Two kids from Millis, which, if you know the town, is frankly pretty surprising.

US beat Finland 3-2 in the only tune-up game- Caulfield had 2 goals.

Tournament is in Edmonton this year. US schedule is as follows (all games on NHL Network)
12/25 v. Russia (9:30 EST)
12/26 v. Austria (9:30 EST)
12/29 v. Czech (2:00 EST)
12/31 v. Sweden (9:30 EST) I miss the NYE US/Canada game, but this should be good. Sweden has a 50+ game unbeaten streak in group play, would love to see the US break it (though Russia probably will have).

1/2 Quarterfinals
1/4 Semifinals
1/5 Finals

Group A is Canada/Finland/Switzerland/Slovakia/Germany

Canada is loaded up front as always and is the likely favorite, although they do have no clear #1 in goal.
Russia is loaded (coached by Igor Larionov), but especially dangerous in goal with Askarov (taken #11 this past draft).
The US has a shot at the podium with its usual quick creative forwards and strong defensemen, but Spencer Knight in goal is key. He has the ability to steal a game or two.
Finland is their usual collection of smart system based players.
Sweden their usual strong D crop in front of highly rated goalies (although neither tested at this tournament I think)
Tim Stuerze for Germany is fun, although they had a COVID outbreak in their camp and they're locked down until tomorrow night.

I'd expect a finals rematch (CAN beat RUS 4-3), but things happen at this tournament.
 

The Napkin

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No official word yet from @HockeyCanada but Kirby Dach is out of the WJC because of the injury suffered yesterday. So Team loses its captain. CHI doctors still assessing Dach’s injury but he will be missing NHL time as well.
 

Dummy Hoy

Angry Pissbum
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No official word yet from @HockeyCanada but Kirby Dach is out of the WJC because of the injury suffered yesterday. So Team loses its captain. CHI doctors still assessing Dach’s injury but he will be missing NHL time as well.
That’s a blow for them- he was going to be a man amongst boys in this tourney.
 

Dummy Hoy

Angry Pissbum
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Solid period for the US...I thought they controlled the period overall, especially after the Russian goal. Russia looked real dangerous in spurts though, and I don’t expect Askarov to be that leaky going forward.

Edit: interesting side note, I think they said Russia only has one righty on the team...eye test sure looked it. I bet they give him shit in the room.
 

Lupe Whalewatch

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Germany got screwed with all the covid positives...dressing 14 skaters for one of these games is crazy.

Good turnaround for the US after a rough start. Knight could have handled the puck better on the Russian goal-soft dump in, and he basically handed it over.
 

Dummy Hoy

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Too bad, US had started the period well.

I’m sure Knight would like that back, but that was a big boy goal...dude shrugged his d-man and finished with a quick release.

Gotta like the US response again.
 

Dummy Hoy

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Knight is completely shitting himself. Definitely expected more from him tonight.

Gotta pull him.

Good call. Knight needs to get back in next game though.
 

Lupe Whalewatch

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I get that there's a goal differential thing in play for this tourney, but you think Canada could maybe ease up n the Germans here? I think they are in pretty good shape to move on to medal play. They have more goals (11) than the Germans have shots (9). I'm not saying don't try, but maybe you don't have to pull the goalie for an extra attacker on delayed penalties, shit like that??
 

Salem's Lot

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I get that there's a goal differential thing in play for this tourney, but you think Canada could maybe ease up n the Germans here? I think they are in pretty good shape to move on to medal play. They have more goals (11) than the Germans have shots (9). I'm not saying don't try, but maybe you don't have to pull the goalie for an extra attacker on delayed penalties, shit like that??
This is getting ridiculous. It’s 15-1 with 12 minutes left. And some point just dump the puck and play defense.
 

Lupe Whalewatch

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Dustin Wolf getting the start is goal for the US over Knight. Im sure this was the original plan, but somewhat surprised they didn't try and get Knight back in there tonight after the rough go of it last night.
 

Salem's Lot

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I understand that TSN wants to hype the kid because he’s a Montreal prospect, but I’m not at all impressed by Cole Caufield.
 

Dummy Hoy

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I actually really like Caufield...he's got an elite shot that he can get off anywhere and has a great offensive zone IQ- he can hold the puck to draw people to him or find the spaces when he doesn't have the puck. He's not the fastest but he's very quick on the transition. I also think the kid is a baller too- he looks good in the big games.

Now, that's just me seeing him in the WJC, a couple of games with Wisconsin, and highlights (I know) from the USHL. It could be little man's bias, but I think he's a top 6 forward who can maybe have some 30 goal seasons in the National. But you never know with some of these guys- he's far from a sure thing.

Dustin Wolf getting the start is goal for the US over Knight. Im sure this was the original plan, but somewhat surprised they didn't try and get Knight back in there tonight after the rough go of it last night.
Agree 100% with this analysis.
 

Lupe Whalewatch

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Canada dodged a bullet against a very pesky Slovakia team, winning 3-1 with an empty netter late. Both goalies were excellent. Devon Levi came in to the tournament as a possible weak spot for team Canada, but he has looked really solid to me so far.
 

Lupe Whalewatch

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Now the Czechs giving Russia all they can handle, up 1-0 after 2. A Czech win here leaves group B completely wide open.
 

santadevil

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Canada dodged a bullet against a very pesky Slovakia team, winning 3-1 with an empty netter late. Both goalies were excellent. Devon Levi came in to the tournament as a possible weak spot for team Canada, but he has looked really solid to me so far.
Levi has played really well so far. The PP loomed terrible tonight for Canada and the Slovak's played a great game. I wasn't feeling too comfortable heading into the 3rd

Now the Czechs giving Russia all they can handle, up 1-0 after 2. A Czech win here leaves group B completely wide open.
Upset win here, seems like Russia does this once in a while. But lots of tournament left and that appears to be the stronger pool to me. I didn't realize that the previous tournament finish is how they are grouped for the next one
 

Lupe Whalewatch

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Big tilt here for the US vs the Czechs... US is going back to Knight in goal. I'd imagine he has a very short leash as well as Wolf has been playing.
 

cshea

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Russia beat Sweden 4-3 in OT last night. It was Sweden's first preliminary round loss since 2006. They had been on a 54 game winning streak. That is one of the more bonkers stats/streaks in all of sports.
 

Lupe Whalewatch

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50/50 raffle for Canada game tonight, open up to residents of Alberta, is just shy of $4mil.

Should be a good one coming up for US against Sweden, where depending on outcome would seed the US anywhere between 1st and 3rd in group B. I think US should have the advantage being rested coming in. Russia actually dominated Sweden 5x5 last night. Expect to see Knight back in net, and hopefully he can keep it rolling.
 

Ferm Sheller

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50/50 raffle for Canada game tonight, open up to residents of Alberta, is just shy of $4mil.

Should be a good one coming up for US against Sweden, where depending on outcome would seed the US anywhere between 1st and 3rd in group B. I think US should have the advantage being rested coming in. Russia actually dominated Sweden 5x5 last night. Expect to see Knight back in net, and hopefully he can keep it rolling.
So google tells me that you have, at worst, about a 1 in ~4.4 million chance of winning $4MM? Nice.
 

Ferm Sheller

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Ah, I never understood why you 50/50ers didn't just do the complex math for us and tell us what's in it for the winner. :p
 

SteveF

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"In the semi-finals, the top-seeded winning quarter-final team will play against the lowest-seeded team. The second-seeded team will play against the third-seeded team. This new seeding procedure has been in place since May 2019."

I think they can avoid Canada until the gold medal game. I suspect the confusion stems from the IIHF bracket graphic that deceptively suggests the winner of Canada-Czechia plays winner of US-Slovakia.
 

santadevil

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Dominant performance by the US. Draw Slovakia in the quarters, looks like a SF matchup with CAN
Should be a good match up for the US, but the Slovaks's did put a scare into Canada in the preliminary round and they played really well all game. They just kept hanging around
 

cshea

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The Germans are handing in there against Russia, down 2-1 in the 3rd.

Successful tournament for them even if they lose this game. Made it to the knockout rounds for the first time, hanging in with a talented Russian squad. Starting to churn out some real high-end players like Daisaitl, Seidel and now Stuetzle. Not sure where he’s projected to go in the upcoming 2021 draft, but I’ve been impressed with Elias.
 

NYCSox

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The Finns just took over the last two periods. Complete domination once they fell behind 2-0. They are going to be a pain in the ass to beat.