Jets at the Juniors: Day One Recap

One of Canada’s favourite Christmas traditions is waking up on Boxing Day already wearing their team Canada jersey. This might seem odd to some people, but the World Junior Championships begin every year on Boxing Day and it’s turned into a huge event for Canadian hockey fans.

The annual tournament features the best young players from around the world as 10 countries compete for the gold medal. The nature of the tournament is junior hockey which means all of the players are under 20 years old. This is an interesting line to draw because there are a few 18 and 19 year old players who are already playing in the NHL. The top picks from the past few seasons like Jack Hughes and Kappo Kakko are needed in the NHL and therefore are not able to participate in the tournament.

On the other hand, teams can choose to loan players to their respective countries if they choose. That’s exactly what happened with Winnipeg and David Gustafsson. Despite playing a number of games for the Jets this season, Winnipeg thought the best development for Gustafsson was to allow him to play in the tournament against his peers.

As for the Winnipeg Jets prospects in the tournament, there are only two of them this year. David Gustafsson as mentioned above, and Ville Heinola, who also played a number of games with the Jets earlier this season.

Gustafsson is playing for Sweden while Heinola is playing for their rival Finland.

On day one of the tournament, which happened yesterday, Gustafsson and Heinola faced off as Finland and Sweden started the tournament against each other.

Sweden was able to squeak out a win in overtime as they beat Finland 3-2.

According to the IIHF website, Gustafsson finished with one assist, three shots, and a +2 rating in 23:28 minutes of ice time.

On the other side of the rink, Heinola finished with two penalty minutes, one shot and a +1 rating in 12:43. The game was back and forth and was really even the whole way. The play of the game was the beautiful lacrosse goal scored by Sweden in the second period. Check it out at the 1:39 mark of the highlights.

In other action, the host (Czech Republic) upset Russia to start the day with a 4-3 victory. Switzerland also beat Kazakhstan by a score of 5-3.

Last but not least, Canada had a major showdown against the Americans. Normally Canada gets a few easier games to start the tournament, but not this year as the US is always one of the top teams. USA got off to a great start as they scored two powerplay goals in the opening period. However, it was all Canada in the second period as they rattled off three straight goals to take the lead. The third period was extremely exciting as Canada widened their lead to 4-2 before USA scored two goals in the second half of the period to tie the game.

The next play after the US goal was the highlight of the game. The US won the faceoff back into their own end and Canada’s Lafreniere went on the forecheck. The US defensemen attempted to pass the puck across the ice to his partner but Lafreniere had phenomenal hand-eye coordination and knocked the puck down. With the defense out of position, Lafreniere walked in on a partial breakaway and made a nice move to get the goalie down and slide the puck around the pad to take the lead just seven seconds after the US tied the game. That turned out to be the game winner as Canada opens the tournament with a victory.

It’s a bit of a lighter schedule in today’s action on the ice. Slovakia make their debut as they take on Kazakhstan and Germany starts their tournament by taking on USA. Both Gustafsson and Heinola get the day off as they get ready for matches tomorrow.