IIHF World Juniors – McKeen's Hockey

2020 World Junior Playoff Predictions

Jimmy Hamrin — Thu, 02 Jan 2020 12:41:38 +0000

Jimmy Hamrin, Sweden based scout/analyst for McKeen's offers his predictions for the playoff round of the 2020 IIHF World Junior Tournament.

RUS beats SUI

CAN beats SVK

USA beats FIN

SWE beats CZE

There are clear favourites in all four quarterfinal games. Neither the Swiss, Slovaks or Finland impressed me in Group A. Finland has a weapon in goalie Justus Annunen that could be a problem for USA, but otherwise, the USA has the better team. Trevor Zegras looks amazing and perhaps Cole Caufield gets going now after scoring the overtime winner in the last group game. Sweden should beat the Czechs as well but the host nation has shown tremendous spirit in games versus Russia and USA and will probably do so against Sweden as well. I'll give the odds to the better team though, which is the Swedes.

RUS beats SWE

CAN beats USA

RUS beats CAN

These games could go either way. Russia has fantastic scoring depth with a lot of highly skilled players. Sweden has a strong defense and they have also received depth scoring from Lucas Raymond and Alexander Holtz but the Russian team is better overall. Russia wins it in regulation.

The North American face-off in the semifinal will be a tough one and could go to overtime. Canada with Alexis Lafreniere back in the lineup form injury gets it done though. The consensus predicted first overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft will play a major role in the win. Cole Caufield scores twice for the USA but it won't be enough. USA will beat Sweden for the bronze however.

Russia did beat Canada 6-0 at the group stage, but it will be a tighter game this time. Either by a late goal or an overtime goal by Kirill Marchenko will give the Russians the gold. Russia has the more skilled team and combines it with strong players but Canada's combination of skill and intensity is hard to beat. At the end of the day I think the skill will win it for Russia. Russia has the older team which will make a difference in the end as well.

2020 World Junior Championship Recap: Day Two

Derek O'Brien — Fri, 27 Dec 2019 22:37:02 +0000

OSTRAVA, CZECH REPUBLIC - DECEMBER 27: GermanyÕs Tim Stutzle #8 skates with the puck while USAÕs Nicholas Robertson #16 chases him down during preliminary round action at the 2020 IIHF World Junior Championship at Ostravar Arena on December 27, 2019 in Ostrava, Czech Republic. (Photo by Andrea Cardin/HHOF-IIHF Images)

For a while, it looked like the USA might in danger of falling to 0-2 in Group B of the 2020 IIHF World Junior Championship, trailing 3-2 in the second period to a talented German squad that everybody was curious to see in action.

Germany built its lead thanks to a goal and two assists from Dominik Bokk and two power-play goals from John Peterka (as he’s now apparently called). But the Americans came back with four straight goals to win 6-3. Anaheim Ducks prospect Trevor Zegras assisted on the first four American goals, the last being a nifty spinarama behind the net and a feed out front to Curtis Hall for the winning goal. Ottawa Senators prospect Shane Pinto had a goal and an assist, and now has six points in two games.

“I don’t think any of us think that was our best effort, but we definitely came on strong when we needed to and got the win. That was big,” said U.S. captain Mattias Samuelsson, whose team was playing the second of back-to-back games. “The Canada game was a physical one, for sure, but no excuses. We’ve got a day off now and looking to put forth our A game in the last two games coming up, because I don’t think we’ve played it yet.”

“This was a big game for us and I think there are a lot of good things we can take from this game,” acknowledged Bokk, a St. Louis Blues prospect who plays for BK Rogle in the Swedish Hockey League. “Our power play was working really well. We maybe have to tighten up a little better defensively, but I think this gives us some confidence heading into tomorrow’s game. We know that’s going to be a big one.”

Indeed, the Germany vs Czech Republic game was projected before the tournament to be one that might decide which team gets relegated from this group and, despite the Czechs’ opening-day win over Russia, that might still be the case.

In what was figured to be a big game to decide which team would avoid last place in Group A in Trinec, Slovakia had its hands full with Kazakhstan but eventually won 3-1. Sherbrooke Phoenix goalie Samuel Hlavaj made 22 saves and was chosen Slovakia’s player of the game. The 18-year-old is already playing in his second World Junior Championships. Goals were scored by Hlavaj’s former Sherbrooke teammate Oliver Okuliar, now with the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Daniel Tkac and an empty-netter by Robert Dzugan.

“Michal Mrazik took the puck behind the net and found me backdoor – he’s a righty and he found my stick,” said Tkac, who scored the winning goal with just 2:56 remaining in regulation time. “All I had to do what tap it in. It was a really nice play by him.”

The lone Kazakh goal was scored by 18-year-old Maxim Musorov, who now shares the tournament’s goal-scoring lead with Pinto – each have three after two days. The Kazakhs have now put scares into both Switzerland and Slovakia but still have zero points, and with their remaining games against Sweden and Finland, it now looks very unlikely that they’ll be able to avoid the relegation round.

As the game wore on, Tkac said: “We just came in with the same mentality as if we were playing Sweden or anybody. We knew what we had to do. We just had to stay positive and keep going and we did it.”

Tkac, a dual Slovak and American citizen who was born in Pittsburgh, currently plays for the Merritt Centennials of the BCHL and, in his last year of junior eligibility, is hoping to use a successful World Junior Championship to help springboard him into U.S. collegiate hockey.

Day two of the World Juniors revealed some bad news for a couple of knee injuries to AHL players that occurred on day one. The Czech Republic’s Jakub Lauko and Finland’s Rasmus Kupari are both done for the tournament. Lauko was involved in a collision just six seconds into the game with Russia and should be out of action for a few weeks, while reports are that Kupari could be out months.

“I felt a stab immediately, and when I tried to put push myself up off the ice, I knew it wasn’t good,” Lauko told the media on Friday. On being forced to miss the rest of the tournament, he said, “The pain in my knee is no comparison to the pain inside.”

MCKEEN’S HOCKEY 2020 IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP GUIDE: NOW AVAILABLE

McKeen's Hockey — Mon, 23 Dec 2019 19:55:57 +0000

We are excited to announce the release of our annual IIHF World Junior Championship Guide. Subscribers can download here https://www.mckeenshockey.com/nhl/subscriber-downloads/

Given rosters may not be finalized we will update prior to the tournament with a final edition on December 24th, including new profiles and final rosters.

IT WILL INCLUDE:

For the 'Big Five' - Canada, United States, Russia, Sweden and Finland - Team overviews, top ten players to watch, and a sleeper/surprise player to keep an eye on.
For other countries - Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland, Khazakstan, and Germany - team profiles and key player notes.
Team Rosters and Stats
Other features

IT IS INCLUDED IN A SUBSCRIPTION TO MCKEEN'S HOCKEY WEBSITE. YOU CAN LEARN MORE BY LINKING HERE:

A subscription includes all of our digital magazines available for download (McKeen's 2019-20 Hockey Pool Yearbook and McKeen's 2019 NHL Draft Guide). You will have access to all of our player profiles, feature articles and the deepest archive of player profiles and scouting reports available on the internet.