News
WJC round robin review - part 2
The 2007 World Junior Championships are in full swing and the real action is about to start. Eurohockey.net looks back on how the round robin went. In the second part the teams 6-10 are being reviewed.
The 2007 World Junior Championships in Sweden kicked off with two major surprises. Belarus beat last year’s bronze medalists Finland whilst Germany managed an overtime win against the USA. However after the round robin both promoted teams found themselves back in the relegation series again where they will be having their hands full trying not to go down once again.
We’ll continue our brief round-up with the teams of the bottom part of the standings after the round robin.
World Champions of 2004, Team USA, had a rough ride so far in Sweden. The team managed to clinch the final quarter final spot with a last ditch effort saving them from embarrassment. Jack Johnson’s goal 3:16 in overtime against Sweden, earned the United States the vital win that sent Germany to the relegation series.
Full of ambition the Americans got off to a horrible start getting just a single point from their first two games. A lopsided 6-1 victory over a poor Slovakia side however was just the right medicine for the struggling offense and opened the door for their result against Sweden.
Team USA recovered just in time to make it to the quarter finals.
© Leonard Loonen, www.eurohockey.net, 2006.
Coach Ron Rolston decided to change goaltenders after two games and it did wonders for them. Jeff Zatkoff looked shaky during the first two games and wasn’t getting the job done. Relegated to the back-up position, Jeff Frazee came up big to earn his new role on the team stopping all but 3 of 59 shots in two games.
With a hot goalie in net and a team that is starting to gel together as the tournament goes on, USA are a team not to underestimate. They’ve been getting skilled defense from Erik and Jack Johnson (no relatives) who are not afraid to join the rush. Erik Johnson is second on the team in scoring.
Up front the team has got speed from Nate Gerbe, skill from Patrick Kane and grit from Michael Carman. After picking up two straight victories they will be looking forward to the game against the Finns who for sure will be no pushovers themselves.
Missing out on a quarter final spot in the last minute was Team Germany. Although coming into the tournament with the lone goal being to avoid relegation, the team had a heartbreaker yesterday when the USA defeated Sweden in overtime. Their fabulous 2-1 victory over the American team was followed up with a strong 4-2 win over Slovakia. Having picked up 5 points from 2 games the Germans knew another point gained would probably be sufficient to reach the quarter finals, however unfortunately for them they did not manage to pick up that all important point. The 1-3 loss against Canada was not so much a surprise, but Germany would have liked to have taken something off the Swedes. It wasn’t to be. They kept the score close for long but had to bow their heads; 1-3 the score again.
Germany’s relative success can be explained by its strong first line who is doing all the damage for them. Christoph Gawlik, Phillip Gogulla and Felix Schütz have combined for over half of Germany production. Germany also leads all teams when it comes to scoring efficiency with 8 goals scored on just 64 shots.
Furthermore their goaltending has been top notch and surprising many people. Both Sebastian Stefaniszin and Timo Pielmeier are in the top of goaltending listings for save percentage and they will play a great part in Germany’s survival mission during the relegation games.
Germany got strong goaltending from both their netminders.
© Leonard Loonen, www.eurohockey.net, 2006.
Coming in the relegation series, Germany has its destiny in its own hands taking a 3-point lead over Belarus and Slovakia with them. A win against either Belarus or Switzerland would have them safe for next season. Then it will be another struggle for them as they will be without their first offensive line who are no longer eligible.
Switzerland also holds its own destiny as they will too bring in three points with them into the relegation series. The Swiss are experienced in these kind of games after having been in the same position for the last 4 years. Their 4-1 win over Belarus will give them some confidence that a win against either Germany or Slovakia will be sufficient for another year at the elite level. With a strong U18-side coming up for Switzerland, staying at this level is essential.
The victory over Belarus gave the Swiss a flying start of this championship, but their joy was short lived as their remaining three games all ended up in clear losses.
Switzerland is suffering seriously form its poor specialty teams. Their power play is worst of all teams in the tournament with just a single goal on 24 attempts. In contrary their penalty killing isn’t much better staying just ahead of Sweden. Added to that, the Swiss have conceded 3 short handed goals so far and rank amongst the bottom when it comes to scoring efficiency.
Juraj Simek leads his team in scoring with a pair of goals whilst Steve Kellenberger posted 3 assists. Reto Berra has been in net for all four games and has been decent yet not spectacular for the Swiss. All in all, Switzerland should be able to survive at this level, but it will not be a year to remember for a long time for them.
It will likely be another year of frustration for Belarus. The up-and-down going team had good faith of finally managing to stay up this year after their 4-3 upset over Finland, but in the end find themselves back on familiar territory with 0 points taken with them into the relegation series.
The Swiss once again ended up in the relegation zone with a confortable three point lead.
© Leonard Loonen, www.eurohockey.net, 2006.
The team possesses smooth skating and amazing puck control, but are simply not at the same level as some other teams. They are able to beat any team which underestimates them though. Needing two victories against Slovakia and Germany, team Belarus can no longer force itself into the underdog role as they will have to come out and play offense.
Forward Sergey Kostitsyn will be counted on to score the necessary goals. So far he has only been able to score a single goal. Kostitsyn is tied in points with Mikhail Stefanovich who has picked up a pair of goals and 1 assist for 3 points.
Belarus’ power play ranks amongst the worst of the teams with a percentage of just 8.7% and will need to be improved if they want to stay up. Between the pipes Valery Pronin is prone to giving up a lot of rebounds but he has been solid in net otherwise. It is unlikely the coaching staff will make a move for Dmitri Zhuravsky in net.
If Belarus is to go down it would mark the third consecutive time they have not managed to stay up after promoting.
Belarus is close to another relegation.
© Leonard Loonen, www.eurohockey.net, 2006.
With things looking dark for Belarus, things look even darker for Slovakia. The proud nation has not been able to gain the same success with its juniors as with its seniors and are serious contenders for the drop this year.
The team has a mountain to climb trailing three points and they now must defeat a stiff Swiss side as well as Belarus in order to stay in the race of survival.
Although the task is not impossible, the Slovaks have yet to pick up a single point this tournament and will have to clear their heads first. They need to learn winning again as well as finding the net. Especially their power play is not working well having been unable to score during their last 36 minutes with at least one-man advantage.
A scoring efficiency of 5.13% underlines this.
Slovakia has been struggling to pull the trigger whilst in the offensive zone.
© Leonard Loonen, www.eurohockey.net, 2006.
The team itself is mainly build up of players playing in North-America, an although it’s not the most talented team Slovakia has ever had, the team is playing attractable and acceptable yet inefficient hockey.
Juraj Mikus is just one of the two forwards who have managed to score during the team’s first four games. His three goals has him lead the team in scoring.
Other then up front, Slovakia has been inconsistent between the pipes. Branislav Konrad was assigned as the starting goaltender but could not stand out for his team. Coach Jan Jasko tried bringing in Jakub Macek twice but with 10 goals against on 38 shots, Jasko could not be happy either.
He good news is that Konrad came up strong for Slovakia in their last group game against Canada in which he stopped 37 shots.
Slovakia has been outscored in every period so far but will face teams of their own level in their next two games. But it will be essential for them to regain confidence and execute on their chances. If not Slovakia is destined to play in Division I for the first time since 1995.
Story added on 1st January 2007 at 18:30 GMT
Story submitted by: Joeri Loonen.