Montreal Canadiens' prospects Michael Hage and Aatos Koivu are both through to the World Junior Championship semifinal, but one plays a much bigger role than the other.
It was quarterfinal day at the World Junior Championships yesterday, and things didn’t exactly go according to plan for the defending champions. Team USA won’t be able to win a third championship in a row since Finland unceremoniously eliminated them on Friday. In a rematch from last edition’s gold-medal game, the Finns beat the Americans 4-3 in overtime.
Meaning that Montreal Canadiens’ prospect LJ Mooney’s tournament is over while Aatos Koivu’s goes on. However, neither will be very happy: Mooney for obvious reasons, and Koivu because, after being benched early in Finland’s tilt against Canada, Saku’s son was a healthy scratch for the quarterfinal. It remains to be seen if he’ll be out of the doghouse for the semifinal, but right now, it doesn't appear very likely.
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Meanwhile, Latvian goaltender Mikus Vecvanags once again served as the backup as his country was bounced from the tournament 6-3 by a much stronger Swedish side. It was a disappointing tourney for the young netminder who will head back to his QMJHL side, the Newfoundland Regiment, before making the jump in the NCAA next season.
Friday was a much better day for Canadian prospect Michael Hage. After crashing out of the tournament in the quarterfinal last year, Team Canada came out strong against Slovakia and obliterated Juraj Slafkovsky’s countrymen with a 7-1 triumph. Hage had an assist in the win, bringing his tournament total to nine points, the second-highest, tied with Gavin McKenna and Vojtech Char. With two points in the win, defenseman Zayne Parekh took the lead in the scoring race with 10 points.
As for Carlos Handel, his country avoided relegation with an 8-4 win over Denmark.
There are no games scheduled on Saturday, but the semifinals will take place on Sunday, when Sweden will face its eternal rival Finland at 4:30 PM, and Canada will have an opportunity to avenge its elimination last year by facing Czechia at 8:30 PM. The two teams clashed in the preliminary round, and Canada had the upper hand with a 7-5 win. The question is, will it be able to do it again now that it really counts?
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