World Juniors Day 4 Recap: USA fights all the way back from 2-0 to win in the shootout outdoors

Game 1: Russia plays Belarus, demolition ensues. Russia wins 5-2

Bad news: Belarus is absolutely gonna have to win their game against Denmark or they’re gone.

Good news: They’ve played Russia really well!

I mean, as well as they theoretically could, they still got shelled and all of Russia’s big guns got a tally, but hey! baby steps. This’ll be very important for when they have to go back to the 1a tournaments and fight Latvia in a dogfight to be here again.

A Few Thoughts:

1. Poor Belarus part four thousand...
2. That Belarus was even able to get on the board after being down 3-0 is a sign of a team with scrappy determination. It may not work when an engine of hockey destruction is staring them down, but it’s still a nice sentiment.
3. More of that Klim Kostin kid catastrophically crushing creases and creating chances...I couldn’t keep that up, my bad. The point is maybe being very injured in your draft year is a good thing, keeps expectations low so you can shine in moments like this with all the heat off.

Outdoor Game!: USA battles Canada and the weather all the way back to a 4-3 Shootout win.

It was bitterly cold today in the Northeastern United States. It was around 6-7 degrees fahrenheit where I was, and in Orchard Park, New York it wasn’t much better: around 17 degrees fahrenheit. And for awhile, it looked like this game would be...a lot of hype, and not a lot of substance. And given how poorly the USA did against Slovakia, there was reason to believe this game was over before it even really began with a miserable first and second period, where the snow that started as light flurries became a full on steady stream.

And then...in the third period, USA made it interesting. And so did the weather.

A Few Thoughts and Bruins Prospect Update:

1. Great atmosphere, created some fantastic, movie-like moments...would prefer they not do something like this again unless they get help from the local league. The ice was miserable, people were still filing in during the second period and several sections were roped off, the camera angle sucked, TSN’s broadcasters were barely focused or excited by anything that was going on, and the increasing amount of snow meant that the third period and OT was stopped near constantly so they could scrape up snow. The Zambonis couldn’t keep up. Equipment largely used to deal with frozen water buildup. I like this stuff but...for the rest of the tournament, let’s keep it inside, please?
2. You’d think so many stoppages would stymie momentum, but Canada and the US really didn’t seem to mind.
3. Casey Mittelstadt played almost 40 minutes it felt like. He was everywhere.
4. Bruins Prospect Updates: Swayman didn’t play, Frederic had his ice time cut down to only penalty killing situations, and thus played about 6 and a half minutes. Lindgren was on the ice for at least one of the Canada goals early on the power play, but his play slowly improved and he ramped up the physicality, earning 19 minutes after a point in the game.

Today’s Games:

Belarus is back at it again against the Czech Republic, that game starts at Noon EST.

Sweden and Switzerland face off at 2pm EST

Finland will take on Slovakia at 4pm EST

...And Denmark will have to deal with a very cold, frustrated, and angry Canada at 8pm EST. Please pray for Denmark, the poor damn fools....