All four Ducks prospects at the World Junior Championship were in action for Saturday's slate of games
All four Ducks prospects at the World Junior Championship were in action for Saturday's slate of games
The 2025 World Junior Championship continues through the preliminary round, with each team playing two games over the first three days.
Ducks World Junior Recap Day 1: Terrance, Burnevik, Port Contribute to Wins
USA, Czechia, and Sweden are the teams at the top of the tournament standings, each with two regulation wins and six points.
USA: 5 Latvia: 1
The United States took on a Latvia team fresh off the early upset of the tournament when they won an emotional shootout game against heavy favorite Canada.
Three Ducks prospects featured in this game: Carey Terrance and Austin Burnevik played fourth-line minutes together for Team USA against Darels Uljanskis on the Latvia blueline.
Ducks World Junior Recap Day 2: Uljanskis, Latvia Stun Canada
Darels Uljanskis
It's been a mandate for Latvia head coach Artis Abols to bend and not break from a defensive perspective in this tournament. Uljanskis has been executing that mandate well through Latvia's first two games.
He played 16:56 in this game, tallied two shots on goal, took one minor penalty, and was part of the team's second penalty kill unit.
His gap remained larger than traditional fundamentals suggest, but he kept attackers in front of him and to the outside.
He got his stick and body into lanes and disrupted pucks heading to danger areas of the ice.
His next progression will be to refine his outlet passes. He could stand to add a bit more zip when head manning the puck, as his passes can seem nonchalant. Poor execution on a breakout pass from Uljanskis led to a keep from the US and, eventually, their first goal of the game.
Carey Terrance
Terrance didn't provide much more than a solely defensive impact in this game. He was held off the scoresheet in 13:24 minutes and got two shots through on net.
He provided the necessary energy and did well to support pucks in the defensive zone, making it easy for US defensemen to connect with easy breakouts.
He was one of the top penalty-killing forwards again in this game, a penalty kill that didn't allow a power play goal on three chances.
Austin Burnevik
Burnevik continues to impress in this tournament despite his inability to notch a point through two games.
Like Terrance, he's a north/south disrupter on the forecheck and lives in tight areas of the ice, especially the front of the net. His skating is clunky and lacks explosion, but he's surprisingly fast in straight lines.
His backchecking effort, angling ability, puck-protection skills along the wall, and intelligent movement off the puck (especially on the power play) were some standout aspects from the 19-year-old winger in this game.
Czechia: 14 Kazakhstan: 2
Czechia dismantled Kazakhstan in their second game of the tournament in an utterly dominant performance, remaining undefeated in the process.
Vojtech Port
Port didn't have to do much defending in this game and was able to greatly explore the boundaries of his offensive ability.
He notched three primary assists in 15:29 minutes of action, all at even strength.
Port kept his feet moving after outlet passes in an effort to join every rush he could. He was fluid and active along the blueline and especially deeper into the offensive zone with the puck on his stick.
He was as creative as he was confident, shooting around screens for tips, finding teammates on doorsteps from the perimeter, and working pucks throughout the offensive zone.
He tends to play the puck too much against the rush and will need to iron out some of those habits, but he put together an encouraging performance in a game where he took control whenever he had the chance.