2024 World Juniors Brief Recap
With the 2024 World Juniors coming to an end on Friday, it was another exciting run for the best tournament to happen in the midst of the hockey season. Team USA came away with Gold in a dominating 3rd period effort to take the realm against Sweden, dominating the back half of that period, and ultimately winning the game 6-2. Multiple of those goals came from empty netters, but still nonetheless, the separation USA created was largely due to their consistency in their rush play, dynamic attacking inside the offensive zone, and their ability to create havoc around the net.
USA had a knack for scoring all tournament, with the likes of over 10 first round picks all on this roster spread throughout the lineup. USA also had arguably one of the best goaltending trios ever at this tournament, including the likes of Trey Augustine (Detroit 2nd rounder), Jacob Fowler (Montreal 3rd rounder), and Sam Hillebrandt out of the OHL (2024 eligible). This was by far the best goalie trio Team USA has had in recent years, going back to 2021 when that was the last time they won gold. That team had Spencer Knight (Florida), Dustin Wolf (Calgary), and Logan Stein (Ferris State University), creating a very effective duo between Knight and Wolf at that time. Augustine and Fowler were the same, as they both could be relied upon effectively at any moment.
When we look at the other games that took place that day, Germany stayed alive against Norway to maintain their place in the world juniors for next year, whereas Norway was relegated out. Kazakhstan beat France in Division 1A, meaning that Kazakhstan will be back in the 2025 world juniors.
Bronze Game
Czechia vs Finland looked like a runaway game for Finland midway through, as Finland had a 5-2 advantage (5-3 late in the 2nd) over Czechia at that point. Czechia's stingy defensive work that they usually bring each tournament wasn't paying off early, as their neutral zone structure defending line rush against looked off. They weren't defending entries well, the walls were left unsealed inside offensive zone sequences, and man-on-man rotations looked off as well. It wasn't until they powered through that adversity coming into the 3rd period where they got more momentum.
It's always nice to see teams battle through that adversity, and come on top winning, which the Czechs successfully did throughout this game. They looked down and out early, but came back to win this game 8-5. A well deserved effort for their 2nd consecutive year with a medal.
Finland came flying early in this game, scoring the first two goals within 8 minutes of the first period, both coming from inside the house as well. Their speed, depth of their forward group, and F1 forechecking tenacity powered them to gain multiple retrievals inside the offensive zone, creating direct off-cycle chances on many occasions.
Czechia responded, with goals coming from Jiri Kulich (Buffalo 1st rounder) late in the first, and Jakub Stancl (St. Louis 4th rounder) midway through the 2nd. From there, it looked like Finland would run away with this game, scoring 3 unanswered with time to play in the 2nd. The routes, timing, dynamic rush attacking, and net play allowed Finland to take advantage on these 3 goals. This quickly made it a 5-2 game.
Czechia responded late in the 2nd, with a nice scoring touch from Ondrej Becher out of the Prince George Cougars in the WHL. He had a really tough sequence where he was trying to manage the puck on the entry to prevent a play from being offside, handled a bobbling puck off multiple stickhandles, then was able to quickly transfer his weight to load his front leg on the shot. He kept his hands extended out from his body on the release, which allowed him to pick the corner of the net with ease.
From that point on, Finland let the game slip away. It became 5-4 with 15 minutes left in the 3rd off a tremendous shot from Jiri Kulich (BUF), marking his 2nd goal of the game on the power play. Ondrej Becher then scored late in the 3rd to tie the game at 5, based on a net front rebound that came loose for him to poke home. Tomas Hamara (Ottawa) then scored quickly after, off an odd point shot that seemed to miss Niklas Kokko's (Seattle) vision, giving Czechia a 6-5 lead. Two more empty netters made this an 8-5 win for Czechia.
Gold Game
There was a lot of pressure for both sides in the gold medal game, as Sweden had the major pressure of trying to win at home. USA, however, had more pressure as many of the 04/05s still had unfinished business left to achieve, still hungry in pursuit of a gold medal victory as a group. Many of the 04s/05s have won on various stages before, but winning on the biggest stage of them all was a major motivating factor for this group. Obviously, many of the 04s would not be able to return to this tournament, which was another factor as well.
To no surprise, both Sweden and USA came out jumping off the hop. The pace to this game early on was amazing, as both teams created multiple chances that drew fans out of their seats early on. USA's first goal of the game came off a delayed penalty sequence, where USA had possession for a hefty amount of time before they reloaded in the neutral zone, and gained offensive entry. This allowed USA to have that extra skater on the ice for that time being.
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Seamus Casey (New Jersey), who is a fabulous prospect that will be a key part of the New Jersey Devils eventually, had a great manipulative move inside the defender upon entry. He drove the middle lane, and handled the puck at the defender's feet, not allowing him to make a stick-on-puck play.
The puck would fall into a dead zone in the corner, where Rutger McGroarty (Winnipeg) made a hail mary pass to Will Smith (San Jose) in weak side ice. Smith made an intentional slap pass for Gabriel Perreault (New York Rangers) to tip home inside the slot. It was a beautiful feed and vision by Smith. Sweden would eventually tie the game off a point shot from Mattias Havelid (San Jose), where Otto Stenberg (St. Louis) was inside the house to tip it home. Similar play to USA's goal.
USA then took a 2-1 lead midway through the 2nd, with Isaac Howard (Tampa Bay) in perfect position in neutral ice to receive a slap rim around from the defensive zone. Howard picked up the puck with speed on a breakaway, and made a nifty forehand-backhand move for a nifty five-hole goal. Howard would then make the game 3-1, with an extremely deceptive play to beat Hugo Havelid.
Late in the 2nd off a power play opportunity for Sweden, the puck was worked low-high from Noah Ostlund (Buffalo) to Axel Sandin-Pellika (Detroit), who then worked it down the flank to Jonathan Lekkerimaki (Vancouver). This made things a 3-2 game.
Early in the 3rd, USA was able to quickly get moving off a faceoff play inside the offensive zone, where the puck got worked to defenseman Zeev Buium (2024 eligible). Buium currently plays at Denver for David Carle, and is a projected first-rounder in this coming draft. He had a heavy slapshot from right around the top of the circle offensively, allowing Team USA to take a 4-2 lead.
Ryan Leonard (Washington) was buzzing around all game and tournament long, and capitalized singlehandedly driving the play off the rush to score. Leonard first won an old school style foot race in a straight-line on the offensive entry, gained body position to knock a Swedish defender off balance, and muscled his way to the inside of the house for an easy forehand opportunity. He created this singlehandedly out of a 50/50 race, and used both grit and will to allow USA to go up 5-2. Rutger McGroarty (Winnipeg) would then finish things off with an empty netter for a 6-2 victory.
This marked the 6th time that USA hockey has won gold at this tournament. Ironically, Friday (1/5/24) marked 20 years on the dot that USA won gold for the first time, as they've continued to make their mark across the nation with expansive player development. Emergence from players coming from different backgrounds across the country, and the NTDP's continued pursuit of excellence in developing American players, has allowed USA Hockey to continue to get better.
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