Team Sweden has once again gone undefeated in the preliminary round of the World Junior Championship for the 13th year in a row. It’s a remarkable run for the Swedes, but they are going to be looking for more than just a successful round-robin at the 2020 World Juniors and […]
Team Slovakia
Finland Hammer Slovakia
Team Finland laid down the hammer earlier today dominating Team Slovakia 8-1 following a tough loss to the Swedish on Boxing Day. The scoring opened on the powerplay for Finland at the 4:54 mark of the first period. The Finnish got the Slovakian netminder – Samuel Vyletelka – moving and […]
Day 2 WJC Recap: Kazakhstan Goes Down Swinging at an Emotional Time
My efforts to preview Friday’s Slovakia vs Kazakhstan game at the World Juniors were stopped cold by a chilling news flash. A passenger plane carrying 100 people had slammed into a building in the Kazakhs’ homeland, and I feared the absolute worst, not believing the initial estimates of only a […]
IIHF World Junior Championships: Team Kazakhstan Preview and Roster Notes
The IIHF World Championships are a fertile landscape for Cinderella bids. Played on Olympic-style ice (for now) in a setting called “quirky” by NHL fans and “ice hockey” by the rest of the civilized world, the tournament gives Finnish, Swedish, and Swiss-league pros a fighting chance against the class of […]