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The holiday season is a time for
giving, but hockey fans receive a gift in the form of the IIHF World
Under-20 Championships--more commonly known as the WJC--every year at
this time. This year, Canada will be gunning for a fourth consecutive
gold medal.
In order to win it, the Canadians will have to do so with largely a
brand new cast of characters than the 2007 version. They should receive
stiff competition from Sweden, Russia, U.S.A. and the host nation from
the Czech Republic. Finland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Denmark and
Kazakhstan round out the 10-team field.
We take a closer look at this year's WJC tournament, breaking it down
between the medal contenders and those teams just happy to be here.
How they'll
finish
Canada's John Tavares is one
player that will be watched closely by all.
(Dave Abel / Getty Images)
GOLD: Canada
SILVER: Sweden
BRONZE: Czech Republic
SEMIFINALIST: USA
QUARTER-FINALIST: Russia
QUATER-FINALIST: Finland
7th: Denmark
8th: Slovakia
9th: Switzerland
10th: Kazakhstan
The Contenders
CANADA
2007 WJC: Gold
The Canadians went seven years without a gold medal (1998-2004), but
have been awesome ever since. This year's squad will try to make it four
first-place finishes in a row, but only two players--captain/defenseman
Karl
Alzner and winger
Brad Marchand--return
from last year's championship squad. This team is a little younger than
Canada's most recent entries, as five draft-eligible prospects made the
final cut. The goaltending should be a strength, led by L.A. Kings
prospect
Jonathan Bernier and backup
Steve Mason
(Columbus). On defense, Alzner,
Drew Doughty,
Logan
Pyett and
Thomas Hickey
figure to see plenty of ice time. Up front, Canada is the deepest team
in the tournament once again, and will feature the typical array of role
players such as
Brandon
Sutter, Zach Boychuk,
Wayne
Simmonds and
Colton
Gillies. In the end, the team's strength at the center position
(Sutter,
Kyle Turris,
Steven
Stamkos,
Shawn
Matthias,
John Tavares
et al) may prove to be the difference.
SWEDEN
2007 WJC: Semifinalist
The Swedes finished fourth last year, after losing the bronze medal game
to the Americans, and have now gone 12 tournaments without a medal. This
year, they could ice their best shot at a podium finish in a long time.
Goaltender
Jhonas Enroth
could be one of the best in the tourney in his second WJC, while backup
Stefan
Ridderwall is also familiar with the national junior program.
The defense features
Victor Hedman,
who is one of the top prospects in the world and a candidate to go first
overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. Joining Hedman is Johan Motin, a
first-round candidate in 2008. Up front is where Sweden displays the
most promise this year, since recent WJC entries have had difficulty
scoring goals. St. Louis Blues prospect
Patrik
Berglund, who joins Enroth in his second straight tournament for
the Swedes, should lead the club's offense. However, Berglund has plenty
of support in the form of WHL scoring star
Oscar Moller,
fellow CHLers
Mario Kempe
and Robin
Figren, 2007 draftees
Mikael
Backlund and
Joakim
Andersson, Sodertalje's
Tony
Lagerstrom and 16-year-old phenom
Magnus
Svensson-Paajarvi. This year, Sweden may be the only team to
challenge Canada for gold.
CZECH REPUBLIC
2007 WJC: Quarter-finalist
This year's host squad has what it takes to go a long way, but perhaps
not enough on defense to win it all. The Czechs should be strong in goal
with OHLers
Michal
Neuvirth and
Jakub Kovar
leading the way. Neuvirth, a Washington Capitals prospect, wasn't on
last year's club, while Kovar backed up Atlanta Thrashers prospect
Ondrej
Pavelec. The defense only has one returnee from last year's
club--Jiri
Suchy--and is considered a relative team weakness this year. Up
front, however, is where the Czechs can match up with anyone in 2008.
They're led by right-wingers
Jakub Voracek
and David
Kveton, plus
Michael
Frolik,
Vladimir
Ruzicka,
Martin Latal
and Daniel
Bartek. One player that won't suit up for the Czechs is
Vancouver Giants (WHL) star
Michal Repik--who
recently suffered a concussion and has been declared out for the
tournament. If Neuvirth, Voracek, Kveton and Frolik play to
expectations, the host nation should contend for a medal this year.
Unfortunately, they don't have the depth to go all the way.
USA
2007 WJC: Bronze
Usually, it is Team Canada that is hurt the most by junior-eligible
talent playing at the NHL level and not released to play in the WJC.
This year, it's the Americans that will miss the NHL talent, especially
defenseman
Erik Johnson
(St. Louis) and right-winger
Patrick Kane
(Chicago). That said, there is still a lot of talent on this year's
American entry. Defenseman
Jamie McBain
and forwards
Kyle Okposo,
James
vanRiemsdyk,
Blake
Geoffrion, Bill Sweatt and Mike Carman will all be appearing in
their second straight tournament. That experience could give Team USA a
slight edge. The goaltending will be handled by Nashville prospect
Jeremy Smith
and Ohio State sophomore
Joe Palmer,
with Smith the likely go-to guy. Joining McBain will be NHL first-round
picks
Bobby Sanguinetti, the leading scorer among defensemen in the
OHL, Chris
Summers,
Jonathon Blum
and Ian
Cole. Size and strength up front should be another positive for
the Americans, led by Okposo, vanRiemsdyk and
Max
Pacioretty. Unfortunately, there is no Kane to produce big
numbers so offense could wind up being this team's Achilles' heel in the
end.
RUSSIA
2007 WJC: Silver
As is the case every year, the Russian entry will again be talented and
controversial. Once again, several names that could have cracked the
final roster were left off the list this year. In typical Russian
fashion, secrecy abounds as to whether some of the omissions were due to
injury, political reasons, performance or some combination thereof.
Perhaps the biggest absence this year is goaltender
Simeon
Varlamov, who was the team's starter last year when the Russians
earned the silver medal. Instead, Florida Panthers draft pick
Sergei
Gayduchenko looks like the best bet to backstop Russia this time
around. The defense looks pretty good this year, led by returnees
Yuri
Alexandrov and
Vyacheslav
Voinov. However, the omission of
Ivan
Vishnevskiy and
Kirill
Tulupov is surprising. The forwards will again be highly
skilled, led by New York Rangers prospects
Alexei
Cherepanov and
Artem
Anisimov, potential 2008 first rounder
Nikita
Filatov and Panthers prospect
Evgeny
Dadonov. The Russians will again challenge for a medal but don't
be surprised if they go home empty-handed this year.
The Pretenders
FINLAND
2007 WJC: Quarter-finalist
The Finns typically outwork most of their opponents every year in this
tournament, but they probably won't be able to get away with it this
time around. Tampa Bay goaltending prospect
Riku Helenius
may be Finland's best player this year, as he continues a burgeoning
tradition of talented puck-stoppers for Suomi nation. Unfortunately,
there won't be enough of a supporting cast this year to seriously
challenge for a medal. Wait until next year, Finnish hockey fans.
DENMARK
2007 WJC: 1 (Division 1, Group A)
The Danes now have to be taken seriously as a hockey nation, since this
year's WJC club may boast not one but two potential NHL first-round
picks in 2008: Winger
Mikkel
Boedker and defenseman
Philip Larsen.
They join St. Louis Blues prospect
Lars Eller
(No. 13 overall in 2007) to form a fairly decent core of Danish talent.
In fact, the play of Eller, Larsen and Boedker could be enough to avoid
relegation this time around. Denmark may be a major story at the WJC.
SLOVAKIA
2007 WJC: Eighth place
Several members of this year's Slovakian squad play together full time
for HK VSR SR 20, a hothouse program similar to the USNTDP in the United
States. The team is based in Puchov, Slovakia and plays as part of the
Slovakia Extraliga schedule. The familiarity could be a bit of an edge
against lesser opponents but the Slovaks don't have the horses to
challenge for a medal this year. The best Slovak this year figures to be
defenseman
Juraj Mikus,
who played last year.
SWITZERLAND
2007 WJC: Seventh place
The Swiss have avoided relegation the last five tournaments, but they
haven't been able to get over the hump. Switzerland does have some bona
fide talent in defenseman
Yannick Weber--a
2007 Montreal Canadiens draft pick and one of the top offensive
defensemen in the OHL this season. In goaltender Robert Mayer, the Swiss
have a prospect playing in the QMJHL that may get drafted in 2008. As
for their best forward,
Luca Cunti
(personal), he may not even play.
KAZAKHSTAN
2007 WJC: 1 (Division 1, Group B)
Kazakhstan did well to get back into the main WJC group last year, but
they shouldn't get too comfortable in the Czech Republic. Kazakhstan
simply doesn't have enough talent to challenge for a place among the
first eight teams in the tournament--which avoids relegation back into
the B pool. They may be able to stay with teams such as Denmark,
Switzerland and Slovakia, but those three teams boast players that can
change the momentum by themselves. The Kazakhs don't.
