Well, it’s the most wonderful time of the year! World Junior Season!

2024 WJC Day 1:

Best Teams: Slovakia and Sweden
Worst Team: Latvia


5 Stars of the Day:
1. Servac Petrovsky (Slovakia) 2G 1A
2. Filip Bystedt (Sweden) 2G 0A
3. Sam Honzek (Slovakia) 2G 1A
4: Gavin Brindley (USA) 2G 0A
5: Nate Danielson (Canada) 1G 1A

Honourable Mentions:
Jonathan Lekkerimaki (Sweden) 2G 0A
Mathis Rousseau (Canada) 24 saves, 2 goals allowed
Maveric Lamoureux (Canada) 1G 1A
Markus Stensrud (Norway) 40 saves, 4 goals allowed.

Extra Notes:
-Finland’s offence really wasn’t going today, I wonder if this persists throughout the tournament.
-Norway might not be relegated this year, they’re better than I expected.
-Heard that Adam Jiricek is injured. Hope it won’t be for too long. Too bad he has to miss the tournament.
-Seems to me like Sweden and the US are going to be in the finals this year. Sorry, this year’s Canada team has not convinced me that they are gold medalists.

Predictions for tomorrow:
Canada def. Latvia 8-1 (someone will get a hat trick)
Finland def. Germany 2-1 in OT
Czechia def. Norway 3-1
Slovakia def. Switzerland 5-2

Finland looked weak, and Canada looked amazing.

Either USA is very overrated or Norway is very underrated.

The main issue with the Fins was their almost complete inability to generate quality chances on the PP.

I feel like Kiviharju’s injury and Lambert and Kemell choosing not to play in the tournament really hurt Finland’s chances of getting a medal this year, since I think they are the exact pieces Finland really needs.

That's not really an excuse, Canada is missing Bedard, Fantilli, Wright, and Korchinski. You can add Benson as well.

First day...hard to read much into it.

1. Norway played well defensively 5v5.
2. Finland blueline is not good
3. Elias Salomonsson once again converts to good at IIHF event

Well, it looks like Finland’s playing a lot better today. Maybe it’s because they’re playing Germany, but if they continue to play like this, I think they’ll be okay.

Edit: Oh sh*t.

I think it's both

Germany upsetting Finland could change a lot in this tournament

Why do you think the US is overrated?

They aren't deep and their top isn't as good as Canada's top, despite Canada being much thinner

The team that had to cut top tier WJC talent (Musty, Brzustewicz, Eiserman, etc.) isn’t deep?

After the seeing Norway vs Czechia, I can confidently say it’s the former

Who do you guys think will win it all this year?

Probably US at this point, but I have a feeling that the one person who voted Germany is a time traveller.

2024 WJC Day 2:

Prediction Score: 3/10

Best Teams: Canada and Czechia
Worst Team: Latvia (poor guys can’t catch a break)

5 Stars of the Day:
1. Macklin Celebrini (Canada) 1G 4A
2. Adam Gajan (Slovakia) 36 saves, shutout
3. Jiri Kulich (Czechia) 3G 1A
4. Eduard Sale (Czechia) 3G 0A
5. Veit Oswald (Germany) 2G 0A

Honourable Mentions:
Carson Rehkopf (Canada) 2G 0A
Conor Geekie (Canada) 2G 0A
Peter Repcik (Slovakia) 1G 1A
Philipp Dietl (Germany) 40 saves, 3 goals allowed
Matyas Melovsky (Czechia) 0G 3A.

Extra Note for 2024 Draft:
In his limited ice time, I really liked Danil Ustinkov (Switzerland) I think he has potential. I liked it when he almost finished a coast to coast.

Predictions for tomorrow:
Sweden def. Germany 4-2
USA def. Switzerland 5-3 (Smith and Leonard are gonna both gonna get either 1 goal or 2 assists)

Defence is thin...

And again: "In comparison to Canada"... Not to a team like Finland

There's no way they are the favorites still with how they've played. I'd take Slovakia or Canada over USA at this point

Canada is the team to beat IMO... The winner will end up having to go through Canada if Canada doesn't walk on everyone

I respectfully disagree.

While acknowledging my bias as a Canadian, I believe Canada is the team to beat. The US struggled big time against Norway. I unironically thought Norway was the better team in the first period.

I would tend to agree

For Canada it's simple: they gotta win against Sweden on the 29th.

If they do, assuming they beat Germany on the 31st, they finish 1st in their pool.

Let's now try to predict the standings of the two pools:

1-Canada
2-Sweden
3-Finland
4-Germany
5-Latvia

1-Slovakia
2-Slovakia
3-Czechia
4-Switzerland
5-Norwauy

This means for the quarterfinals,
Canada would take on Switzerland
The US would take on Germany
The Swedes would take on Czechia
The Slovaks would take on Finland

If Canada wants to avoid three really difficult games en route to a gold medal, they absolutely have to finish first in Group A.

On paper, USA is stronger at every position. But games not won on paper.



USA
McGroarty (WPG) – Gauthier (PHI) – Snuggerud (STL)
Perreault (NYR) – Smith (SJS) – Leonard (WSH)
Howard (TBL) – Nazar (CHI) – Brindley (CBJ)
Finley (NYI) – Nelson (NYI) – Hayes (CHI)

Buium (2024) – Casey (NJD)
Hutson (MTL) – Chesley (WAS)
Fortescue (NYR) – Rinzel (CHI)

Augustine (DET)
Fowler (MTL)

Moore (CHI)
Terrance (ANA)
Minnetian (DAL)
Pohlkamp (SJS)
Hillebrandt

CANADA
Minten (TOR) - Geekie (ARI) - Dumais (CBJ)
Cowan (TOR) - Poitras (BOS) - Savoie (BUF)
Rehkopf (SEA) - Celebrini (2024) - Yager (PIT)
Allard (2024) - Beck (MTL) - Danielson (DET)

Mateychuk (CBJ) - Lamoureux (ARI)
Furlong (SJS) - Warren (ANA)
Donovan (OTT) - Bonk (PHI)

Rousseau
St-Hilaire

Wood (NSH)
Nelson (SEA)
Ratzlaff (BUF)

Right, in 2021 Canada was (much?) stronger on paper than the US and yet the US played a perfect final and Canad barely showed up