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Post-Game Talk: WJC U20 Championship Game

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kershaw
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Kershaw

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Is anyone really pumped for this?

I look forward to this short tournament as much as I look forward to watching a Rangers game.

The player to watch for Rangers fans is JT Miller. He is playing in his 2nd WJC tournament and is expected to play a leadership type role and play as one of the go-to-guys on the team. I believe Skjei can also make the team and Peter Ceresnak is representing the Slovaks. He may be playing a lot of minutes with Slovakia's depleted blue line.
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The WJC is my favorite hockey of the year. Such a great time for a tourney (over the holidays) and fantastic talent & action.

It pains me to say it but I think Skjei has a nearly impossible uphill battle to make the team. I think the only thing he has working in his favor is that I don't know how many pure puck movers the US is gonna bring (Gostisbehere is a near-lock, then there's Reilly and Gryzcelyk) and he has the NTDP connection which like it or not always helps.

Miller is gonna be in a big role. Likely either playing with Galchenyuk and Gadreau or with Rocco Grimaldi. He will wear a letter and play in all situations. And he is heating up in the AHL at just the right time too. Watching his interview on BlueshirtsUnited you can tell he just loves the opportunity to put on the Red, White, & Blue. Can't wait to watch him.

I think the US team is going to be a lot like the Rangers. Great D and goaltending (can argue best in tourney for both), lots of grit up front with some skill mixed in. I sure hope Galchenyuk can suit up (the Habs don't call him up), he is the best talent the US has had here since Pat Kane.
 
Skjei doesn't deserve to be on the team. I've been fairly unimpressed with his previous game. I will cringe whenever he is on the ice in these pressure-paced games.
 
Very excited for the tournament as I believe it's probably the best hockey we'll be able to see all year :cry:

Benefits of being unemployed and not in school? I'll be up at 430am or whenever the hell I need to wake up to catch the games live :laugh:

I don't think Skjei makes it, but Miller should play a big role and hopefully he brings his offense.
 
Tortorella said:
Skjei doesn't deserve to be on the team. I've been fairly unimpressed with his previous game. I will cringe whenever he is on the ice in these pressure-paced games.
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To be fair, that was by far his worst outing of the season out of the ten-ish games I've seen. When he's on, he's more than capable of being a strong performer at this level.
 
i think trocheck is gonna get the top line center spot over jt miller, but miller's AHL experience might boost him up a bit for the coaching staff. trocheck has been tearing it up so far though..

really excited for this, as usual. here's a quick little "first reaction" i wrote for a blog/podcast i'm working on:

goaltending

John Gibson plays for Kitchener (Ducks property) and has played well above average in the OHL this year, although not great. he’s been outperformed by Malcom Subban (potential team canada starter) but apparently Subban has looked bad in tryouts so far. if Gibson is on his game, team USA has an advantage here, especially since canada has really struggled with goaltending in the WJC the last few years. backups Garret Sparks and Jon Gillies are both capable as well, although i’d much prefer Sparks over Gillies. i think Gillies was sort of a “we should grab an NCAA guy†move and won’t play in the actual tourney.

defense


this is by far team USA’s strength. there’s a lot of recognizable names here even for the casual hockey fan. potential #1 overall pick in next year’s NHL draft Seth Jones is going to be an anchor and most likely on the top pairing. Jacob Trouba (Jets property) is also a pretty well known guy on this list. Gostisbehere is the standout Union College defenseman who plays a little too aggressive offensively, but with the right coaching could easily figure it out. Skjei from U Minnesota, McCabe from U Wisconsin, Murphy from the Sarnia Sting, Grzelcyk from BU? I’m very impressed.

forwards

this is where i’m a little uncertain. Alex Galchenyuk is far and away the most talented player on this American squad, but he can only get you so far. he’s got little to no support. i’m a big fan of Stefan Noesen who plays for the plymouth whalers, he’s a ppg player with good size. Rocco Grimaldi is putting up good numbers with N Dakota but he’s super short. really concerns me. Trocheck who plays for Saginaw has been putting up pretty great numbers in the OHL and could definitely end up centering the first line. i like the hard work and toughness on this team too, definitely led be Stefan Matteau and JT Miller who are gonna have a long career of battling each other since they’re Devils and Rangers prospects (respectively).

overall

this is a good team, absolutely better than last year (which was a disgrace to USA Hockey, btw) but probably not as good as the 2010 team that won it all. maybe somewhere in between. i haven’t really looked into the rosters of anyone else except for Canada, but i’m not overly impressed with their roster either. i think the Russians are a team to look out for, as we’re just a few weeks removed from them playing pretty well against the CHL all-star teams. the team is going to play great defense and have solid goaltending, but i’m not sure if they can score enough to keep up against tougher opponents. of course, now that i wrote that they’re going to light up the scoreboard and the defense will collapse. we’ll see though.
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Sucks that it is over in Russia. Game times so
Early. Can't wait until
It comes back to North America.
 
bubba5 said:
Sucks that it is over in Russia. Game times so
Early. Can't wait until
It comes back to North America.
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2015 it will be in Canada, most likely in either Toronto (new Markham arena if it gets built) or Quebec City (new arena already being built) it could possibly be a joint bid between QC and Montreal.

and look for Connor McDavid to steal the show, it will be his draft year.
 
This should be JT Miller's coming out party. He's physically more mature than 80% of the players he'll be playing and has pro experience under his belt. He should really step up and be productive and take the reigns as a leader.

Also looking forward to getting some better looks at Spelling. Kid has a great offensive skill set, but needs to work on rounding out his game.

Disappointed that Calle Andersson didn't get the nod for Sweden, but it is what it is.
 
Things are going to be hectic at my office for the next couple of months, so I won't be able to watch nearly as much of this as I normally do. Gonna be relying on you folks for some good analysis. :)
 
silverfish said:
Very excited for the tournament as I believe it's probably the best hockey we'll be able to see all year :cry:

Benefits of being unemployed and not in school? I'll be up at 430am or whenever the hell I need to wake up to catch the games live :laugh:

I don't think Skjei makes it, but Miller should play a big role and hopefully he brings his offense.
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The World Juniors are awesome even when there is a full NHL season.
In two years half the guys who played for US and Canada will be in the NHL and many will be elite players. That makes it very cool to watch.
 
Absolutely love the WJC and I'm looking forward to it even more due to the lockout. I haven't payed for the NHL Network since the end of last season but now I'm considering adding it to my cable package again so I don't have to resort to streams. The players really give it their all knowing how many scouts are watching. The intensity and speed in the games is absolutely amazing. Also, considering that I don't get to watch many junior/NCAA games, it's nice to see some prospects in action.
 
Trxjw said:
Also looking forward to getting some better looks at Spelling. Kid has a great offensive skill set, but needs to work on rounding out his game.
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Don't think we'll see any of those games televised.

I'm definitely not optimistic about Skjei's chances of making the team, but hoping for the best.
 
Trxjw said:
This should be JT Miller's coming out party. He's physically more mature than 80% of the players he'll be playing and has pro experience under his belt. He should really step up and be productive and take the reigns as a leader.

Also looking forward to getting some better looks at Spelling. Kid has a great offensive skill set, but needs to work on rounding out his game.

Disappointed that Calle Andersson didn't get the nod for Sweden, but it is what it is.
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He dominated the U18's which helped his draft status. I think he's in a similar situation this year. Playing against NHL-talent in the AHL will help him.

People forget that Kreider was a little under the radar until his first WJC performance.

As much as i hate the WJC's as a talent barometer, I think Miller needs to have a dominant tournament, at least physically.
 
So we're expecting to see Miller and Brady S. for the US team, but not Fogarty, correct?
 
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