World Juniors Quarterfinals RECAP: USA can’t get their offense working, Switzerland can’t survive the 2nd period, and Kazakhstan is on the brink of death

Welp. Thanks for nothing, USA.

By SkyonAir@SkyonAir_ Jan 3, 2020, 7:00am EST

I got nothing. They just got creamed.

Dunno what to tell you, Vladislav Nurek saw 35 shots and let in 4. This could’ve been a lot worse.
Kazakhstan will probably be ok to return in two years’ time. They’re a lot better than some of the teams in 1A, and will likely have more Muranov for at least one more tournament.
Speaking of which, the new team that’s been promoted this year is Austria! After a cinderella story tournament in Belarus! Welcome them when they come to play in 2021!

Not many games can be decided solely by a single period, but that’s not how the Swiss and Russians decided to do things.

The “get outshot and win anyway” approach did not work against Russia at all. Luca Hollenstein deserves a medal for how much rubber he’s seen in the past week.
Grigori Denisenko had two assists in this one and I’d prefer him to pull a “Russian factor” on Florida because jesus christ this kid can play. Khovanov had a great game, too. Minnesota fans should be proud.
Russia draws Sweden...Have fun with that!

I could show DOOM 2016 footage here and I cannot say in confidence you’d notice.

Samuel Vyletelka got absolutely hammered by 44 shots of Canada’s finest, plus a renewed Alexis Lafreniere who got right back on schedule. The Slovak defense was nonexistant. Cause of death determined to be blunt force trauma to the soul.
Canada cruises on their way to face Finland. SPEAKING OF WHICH...

Unacceptable performance by the states. Simply unacceptable.

In fairness, Finland played an absolutely airtight game the likes of which would make any hockey fan very happy to see and have been dominating international tournaments left and right. They played good system hockey for a full 60 minutes and let Joonas Oden be the hero tonight. They have to make that heroism count against Canada, however.
On the other hand, it’s genuinely a bit depressing to see such a talented USA get strangled by their PIM and pay for it dearly. Discipline cost the US badly, and now the World Juniors conclude without any Bruins prospects.
Speaking of whom...Curtis Hall and John Beecher’s tournament is over. Hall was the only Bruins prospect to get a goal, and each played 8:59 and 12:38 respectively, and their ice time only got worse and worse as the tournament wore on. An absolutely miserable result for these gentlemen who should’ve had a chance to truly shine here against some teams they could’ve easily stunted on. Especially Beecher, of whom a lot of hopes ride on as a first round pick. It’ll be back to the NCAA for both.

Their moms were probably in the crowd tonight, Sweden. Have a heart.

Samuel Fagemo decided to switch from goalscoring to assist-getting, and as a result let little Nils Hoglander go all the way off. Hoglander had 2 goals and an assist.
The Swedes doubled up on the home team on shots. That was brutal, Sweden. I thought you left pillaging like this back in the viking ages.

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