2025 World Junior Championship

[Dr Johnny Fever]

I started watch the beginning of the third period today. Once again, from that point on the game was just amazingly exciting to watch with what was on the line. Great game.

 

[Giguere27]

Very disappointing for the German team. With the exception of the game against the USA, they were up against it in every game and, contrary to the predictions of many experts, there were no heavy defeats.



Now everything depends on one game and anything can happen in one game.

 

[Kalv]

Btw I reported a while ago that in Latvian media he said that the Ducks were very interested in him but ended up in WSH, and also Madden said Ducks just missed out on some (he must be one of those).
Eriks Mateiko, the 6'6 winger is having a great tournament. Was clutch in both of our wins vs Canada and Germany.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Man I love Leonard’s game….

Would love to add him

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Love how cocky the usa team is the last 5 or so years in the world juniors.

Hutson scores to take the lead 1-0

Game has been pretty rough... lot of guys taking liberties.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Terrance wrestling with somebody on canada, couldnt tell who

 

[WhatTheDuck]

It's not " I don't know" but it's not great

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

It's not " I don't know" but it's not great

I saw a couple of his interviews. There has to be some Cronin DNA in that guy.

 

[WhatTheDuck]

Relegation game

 

[Kalv]

I saw a couple of his interviews. There has to be some Cronin DNA in that guy.

Just wait Pat firing Cronim to hire this guy

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Canada down 3-1 after 1 vs CZE

 

[TheGoodShepard1]

Canada down 3-1 after 1 vs CZE

They look disjointed.

 

[Gliff]

Canada down 3-1 after 1 vs CZE

Looks like they could use some offense. Shame all those 18 year olds havent earned it yet...

 

[WhatTheDuck]

Looks like they could use some offense. Shame all those 18 year olds havent earned it yet...

And ironically it's young McKenna leading the push in this third period

 

[Rasp]

Thats what they get for snubbing Sennecke

 

[WhatTheDuck]

Thats what they get for snubbing Sennecke

Haha yeah I'm still rooting for them during the games as a Canadian, cheering for Canada while at the same time enjoying Hockey Canada looking like a bunch of dummies. Maybe throw a few bucks into scouting instead of your coverup fund.

 

[Static]

Why Canada’s World Juniors struggles shouldn’t have been a surprise

It’s natural given Canada's difficult effort on home ice to want explanations and look for scapegoats.

www.nytimes.com

In hindsight, there were obvious signs this could happen. When Canada’s selection camp ended, we had inklings they focused too much on compete and not enough on skill. They opted to bring a lot of small, energy wingers with good but not great skill like Tanner Howe, Luca Pinelli, Ethan Gauthier and Mathieu Cataford over a dynamic selection camp standout and 2024 No. 3 pick in Beckett Sennecke, even if he was 18 and his two-way game wasn’t as polished. He was impressive enough at camp that one NHL scout in attendance thought Sennecke would be one of Canada’s best forwards. The result was a forward group that made shockingly few creative plays and never seemed to consistently generate dangerous chances. After the end of the quarterfinals, not one Canadian player ranked in the top 30 in tournament scoring.

 

[Kalv]

Why Canada’s World Juniors struggles shouldn’t have been a surprise

It’s natural given Canada's difficult effort on home ice to want explanations and look for scapegoats.

www.nytimes.com

Spam message this to Verbeek and Cronin every hour of the day until offseason.

 

[Kalv]

Sad about the young players who had unnecessary amount of pressure on them while being put in situations over their head. Some people out there might be harsh on them.

I don't see how the Canada's performance is on anyone else but the management.

 

[JotAlan]

Also, this Latvian team is very young. Last night we had 4(!!!) 16 year olds playing. Not sure if this is common.

It's bizarre to think that this Latvian team had 4 under-17 players. It's even crazier to imagine that more than half of this team will still be at next year's World Cup. I think it's quite possible that they will compete for a medal at the next World Cup.

 

[FlyingV09]

Sad about the young players who had unnecessary amount of pressure on them while being put in situations over their head. Some people out there might be harsh on them.

I don't see how the Canada's performance is on anyone else but the management.

I think there’s a lot of blame to go around.
Management made many questionable decisions and those have been well documented.
Coaching was a real problem. They skipped 4 practices throughout the tournament. For a team lacking chemistry, that’s an odd choice. Martone and Rehkopf play on the same line in junior and they didn’t play a single minute together in the tourney. That was only one of the many dumb lineup decisions.

I think some onus is on the players too. If you don’t crap the bed vs Latvia we’re probably singing a different tune right now. They took way too many dumb penalties vs the US which made it impossible to get their game going.

The reffing in the game last night was some of the worst I’ve seen. It definitely had a huge impact on the game. Given how bad the management and coaching has been, they probably deserved to bow out early. However, I do think the players were given an unfair slice from the stripes in the quarterfinal.

And finally, looking at the bigger picture, Bédard, Celebrini, and Benson are all in the NHL. That’s a gamebreaking first line. I know some other teams have guys in the NHL too, but none of the names I’ve read are the calibre of a Bédard or Celebrini.

 

[Kalv]

It's bizarre to think that this Latvian team had 4 under-17 players. It's even crazier to imagine that more than half of this team will still be at next year's World Cup. I think it's quite possible that they will compete for a medal at the next World Cup.

We'd need to another goalie to carry us but yeah, we were the youngest team this year.

And finally, looking at the bigger picture, Bédard, Celebrini, and Benson are all in the NHL. That’s a gamebreaking first line. I know some other teams have guys in the NHL too, but none of the names I’ve read are the calibre of a Bédard or Celebrini.

I don't think anyone doubts Canada has the deepest pool of players. Even outside of those three, Canada could had picked a roster that'd go and fight for gold.