And then there were two. Or maybe we should say one-and-a-half? On Thursday morning, Dylan Samberg, Nino Niederreiter and Leon Gawanke each skated in quarterfinal matches from the IIHF World Championship in Tampere, FI. and Riga, LAT.
Of the three players - one of which has recently come out publicly with a trade demand - two are moving on to the semifinal round of the international championship, while one has been sent home early.
With Nikolaj Ehlers and Team Denmark having already been ousted from the tournament, the newest member of the Jets, and fellow European Nino Niederreiter will be joining his linemate on the sidelines.
Falling to the underdog Germans on Thursday, Niederreiter saw his seventh World Championship come to a disappointing end. After beginning with six regulation wins, Switzerland dropped an overtime affair to Latvia in its final round robin game, before being upset 3-1 by Gawanke and the Germans.
"We tried too hard and played far too unorganized," Niederreiter said following the quarterfinal defeat. "We were too hectic with the puck. In the end, it's our own fault. We had it in our hands. I'm at a loss for words, it was just bad."
Many actually called Niederreiter's Swiss club the very best national team ever assembled, as 11 total players had either been drafted or suited up in action with an NHL club previously.
"The will was definitely there to win the match but we ran out of patience,” the Swiss veteran added. “The biggest problem was that we wanted to decide the match in the first five or six minutes. You just can't do it, you have to play ice hockey for 60 minutes. That wasn’t good enough.”
As captain, the Jets' trade deadline acquisition did his fair share offensively, scoring four times and adding an assist for five points in the seven games he played in, but it wasn't enough, as Gawanke's Germans now advance to the semifinal with their fourth-straight win. That game will be played on Saturday morning, to which Germany will face off against Team USA.
“The people in Germany were like, 'let’s just make the quarter-finals', but we knew we could maybe do better,” German forward Justin Schutz said post-game. “I think two weeks ago I would have said yes to the quarter-finals, but we knew today we could go to the semis, and we are. Now we want to win it all!”
Gawanke - who has spent the entirety of his four years in Manitoba with the Moose - has two assists in six games for Germany. He set a new Manitoba record with 20 goals in a single season as a defenceman this past year.
On the other side of things, it was Dylan Samberg's Americans who took care of business with a 3-0 shutout over Czechia in the first of two semifinal matchups on Thursday morning.
Looking for their first gold medal since 1933, the U.S. will also look to pick up their fifth medal overall in the past 10 years. Canada prevailed 4-1 over Finland, while Latvia shocked Sweden 3-1 in the remaining quarterfinal games, meaning the two will now do battle in the other semifinal on Saturday.
Matt Coronato, Nick Perbix and Cutter Gauthier each scored for the United States, while Casey DeSmith turned aside all 15 shots he faced to help the Americans to their eighth-straight victory. Karel Vejmelka stopped 31 of the 34 shots fired his way by the Americans.
"I think we’re just playing really good team hockey," DeSmith said. "Everybody’s coming together. We’re playing to our strengths, we’re playing fast, we’re on top of teams, and defensively it’s paying off so far."
Former Jets forward Michael Eyssimont served his one-game suspension on Thursday for kneeing Washington Capitals defenceman Rasmus Sandin in the final game of the preliminary round.
Samberg now has one goal, three points, four penalty minutes and a +10 rating through eight games in the red, blue and white. Ehlers finished the tournament with nine points in seven games for the Danes.
Canada will face Latvia at 6:20 AM central time on Saturday, while the USA will face Germany shortly after at 10:20 AM.