This week the World Junior Championships is being held in Calgary and Edmonton. The best players under 20 are playing in the annual tournament that began Monday. Canada and the United States looked very strong in their opening games. Today, the border countries are finishing round-robin play with a showdown at Rexall Place.
The Americans have had recent success in the tournament. This year wasn’t so fortunate for the United States. Yesterday against the Czech Republic, they had several chances to win the game. A failed penalty shot attempt midway through the third period turned the game around as the Czechs rallied around goalie Petr Mrazek and scored three goals in the final 10 minutes to win 5-2. With the loss and a loss to Finland earlier this week, they appear to be headed to the regulation round instead of the medal round. A failure considering they have many players from last year’s bronze medalist squad in addition to winning gold two years ago.
The match against Canada won’t be easy considering they are undefeated and have defeated the two teams that beat the Americans by a combined score of 13-1. They topped Finland 8-1 and the Czech Republic 5-0 during the tournament.
The two remaining games the Americans will have in the tournament will take place January 3 and 4 at the Saddledome in Calgary. The game on 1/3 will be against Latvia while the opponent is still to be determined for the last game. It will be the loser of today’s game between Slovakia and Switzerland.
One thing that I noticed was United States goalie Jack Campbell’s mask. He went with the Captain America theme as seen Monday night when they defeated Denmark 11-3. The top junior American goalie, Campbell was the first goalie selected in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. He was taken 11th overall by Dallas. Campbell also led the Americans to the gold medals at the 2009 and 2010 World U18 Championship, as well as a gold and bronze respectively in the 2010 and 2011 World Junior Championships. His club team is the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL.
the goalie for the czechs name was petr mrazek. not marek mazaneck. also jack cambells club team plays in the ohl not the nhl.
Good catch Scott. About Petr Mrazek, I accidentally looked at the 2011 (last year) World Jr Championships roster. And with the Soo Greyhounds it was a simple typo with OHL/NHL.