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IIHF Determines Groups For 2023 World Junior Championship

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While the quarterfinals in the delayed 2022 World Juniors rage on with Finland and Sweden already moving on to the semifinals, there’s some significant news regarding next year’s tournament, set to start in just a few months. Today, the IIHF and Hockey Canada jointly released the groupings for the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship. The groupings are as follows:

Group A (Halifax): Canada, Sweden, Czechia, Germany, Austria
Group B (Moncton): United States, Finland, Switzerland, Slovakia, Latvia

As the IIHF maintains its no-relegation policy due to COVID, the groups were able to be determined on short notice prior to the conclusion of the delayed 2022 tournament. The 2023 tournament, awarded to Atlantic Canada, will see Group A play at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, NS, and Group B play at the Avenir Centre in Moncton, NB.

The federation also said that a minimum of 10 pre-tournament games will be played in various communities throughout the two provinces. The full game schedule for the tournament will be available in the coming weeks, per the release.

USA Hockey Announces 2022 Women’s World Championship Roster

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Right now, the 2022 Men’s World Junior Championships is sitting centerstage when it comes to international hockey, however soon after the tournament ends, that attention will turn to the 2022 IIHF Women’s World Championships, which are set to run from August 25th through September 4th. Hosting the tournament will be the cities of Herning and Frederikshavn, Denmark.

In advance of the tournament, USA Hockey announced its 23 woman roster earlier today, which includes a large contingent of familiar faces and several exciting stars, including 18 members of the 2022 USA Olympic team which took home Silver. Talking about his team, head coach John Wroblewski said in a release:

“I am excited to officially have our team as we continue to prepare for women’s worlds. As a staff, we are confident in the skill and grit of this team and are excited to begin our journey to achieve our goals in Denmark.”

Below is the full United States roster:

Goalie:

Aerin Frankel

Maddie Rooney

Nicole Hensley

 

Defense:

Caroline Harvey

Cayla Barnes

Jincy Dunne

Lee Stecklein

Megan Keller

Rory Guilday

Savannah Harmon

 

Forward:

Abby Roque

Alex Carpenter

Amanda Kessel

Grace Zumwinkle

Hannah Bilka

Hannah Brandt

Hayley Scamurra

Hilary Knight

Jesse Compher

Kelly Pannek

Kendall Coyne Schofield

Lacey Eden

Taylor Heise

Bilka, Guilday, and Heise will also participate on the United States Women’s National Team for the first time in their careers. On the other hand, this will be Coyne Schofield’s ninth appearance at the world championships and Knight’s twelfth – a USA Hockey record.

Finland Wins 2022 IIHF World Championship

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After an exciting Gold Medal game that saw Finland and Canada battle into overtime, Team Finland was able to pull away with the win and the Gold Medal on home ice at this year’s IIHF World Championship. Forward Sakari Manninen scored the golden goal winner on the powerplay in the first overtime period. Finland’s victory was not without drama, however, as several officiating decisions were called into question, chief among them was an apparent phantom high-sticking penalty on Team Canada’s Cole Sillinger in the third period. After the call on Sillinger, Finland was put on a 5-on-3 powerplay, where they would score twice, taking a 3-1 lead. Canada would come back however, tying the game at three and forcing overtime.

Goaltender Jussi Olkinuora of Finalnd was named the tournament’s MVP following the game. The entire Tournament All Star Team, as selected by the media, includes: Olkinuora (G, FIN), Seth Jones (D, USA), Mikko Lehtonen (D, FIN), Pierre-Luc Dubois (F, CAN), Roman Cervenka (F, CZE), and Manninen (F, FIN).

Also medaling was team Czechia, who took Bronze, defeating the United States handedly earlier today 8-4, highlighted by a David Pastrnak hat trick. Leading the way for Czechia, and the entire tournament, was Cervenka, who’s 17 points lead the entire tournament.

Several high-profile prospects in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft also represented their countries in the tournament, most notably Austria’s Marco Kasper, Czechia’s David Jiricek, and a haul of prospect talent from Slovakia, including Simon Nemec, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Adam Sykora. Perhaps the most standout among them was Slafkovsky, a projected top pick in the draft, who continued his Olympic dominance into the IIHF tournament, where he posted nine points over eight games, an impressive mark for an 18-year-old playing amongst men, many of whom are NHL veterans.

Another milestone was notched with Finland securing Gold, as Valtteri Filppula became the first Finnish player to join the triple-Gold club, including a Stanley Cup, an Olympic Gold Medal, and an IIHF World Championship Gold Medal.

Finland, Latvia Awarded 2023 World Championship

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May 27: The Worlds have officially been awarded to Finland and Latvia for 2023, while Switzerland has landed the 2026 event. Several other events have also been decided.

May 24: It appears as though the IIHF World Championship may not be leaving Finland at the end of the month. The country, along with Latvia, has submitted a new bid for the 2023 event, which had previously been stripped from Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine. There had been a joint application submitted by Hungary and Slovenia but it has now been withdrawn.

That means this new bid from Finland and Latvia–Tampere and Riga specifically–is currently the only application for the event, set for May 2023. The IIHF explains that Nokia Arena in Tampere, which is currently holding the 2022 event, would again serve as the main facility for the tournament. Arena Riga, unfortunately, was held mostly empty at the 2021 event due to COVID-19 restrictions, something that hopefully wouldn’t be necessary this time around.

The IIHF also explained that the Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation could not receive the governmental guarantees that were required to potentially host the event at the MVM Dome in Budapest, forcing the application to be withdrawn.

The decision is expected on Friday, when the IIHF council will also award the 2026 event–likely Switzerland, who is currently the only applicant. The 2024 event is set for Czechia, and in 2025 it will head to Sweden and Denmark.

Quarter-final matches for this year’s event will start on Thursday.

David Pastrnak Joins World Championship

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After being eliminated in a heartbreaking game seven over the weekend, David Pastrnak’s season of hockey isn’t quite over. The Boston Bruins forward will join the Czech national team at the IIHF World Championship on Wednesday, in time for them to play their fourth group stage game on Thursday.

Given the yearly success of the Bruins in the postseason, it has been quite a few years since Pastrnak has represented Czechia but he has been quite committed to them throughout his career. In 2018, after scoring 20 points in 12 postseason games with the Bruins, he still managed to join the World Championship team for another handful of games. He’s represented his country at several other tournaments, including the 2016 World Cup and three World Juniors.

Interestingly enough, Pastrnak is another example of this wave of NHL superstars that have never received a chance to play in the Olympics. That is despite being selected for the 2022 team, before the league decided to pull out of the event at the last minute. Pastrnak, Ondrej Palat, and Jakub Voracek were the three players that Czechia had named to the club ahead of time.

Given their schedule, he’ll be arriving just in time. The Czechs finish off the group stage with very important games against the U.S. and Finland, which could determine their fate in the event.

Two Washington Capitals Defensemen Head To World Championship

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A pair of Washington Capitals defensemen are heading to Helsinki and Tampere, Finland, to participate in the 2022 IIHF World Championship. Youngster Martin Fehervary is joining Team Slovakia in Group A in Helsinki, while Michal Kempny will head to Team Czechia in Group B in Tampere.

Fehervary immediately becomes the only Slovak defenseman affiliated with an NHL team. While the team does also have projected 2022 top-five draft choice Simon Nemec, the team’s blue line is largely constructed of players from the Czech and Slovak Extraligas. Slovakia is off to a 1-1 start after defeating France 4-2 and losing to Germany 2-1. Their next game is tomorrow against the Canadians, a tough test for this squad.

The 22-year-old, who Washington selected 46th overall in 2018, forced his way into a full-time NHL role this season for the first time. Playing in 79 games, Fehervary worked his way up to the team’s top pairing alongside John Carlson, showing he could play against top competition. While neither his point totals (eight goals, nine assists, 17 points) nor his defensive metrics were particularly impressive, he did log some penalty-killing minutes as well and showed vast potential for improvement. The two-way defender will look at this tournament as a chance to continue his development on the international stage.

Kempny, now 31, got into only 15 games with the Capitals this season after missing all of 2020-21 with an injury to his Achilles tendon. He never found his way back into the lineup full-time, garnering a goal and assist in those 15 games, and spent 24 games with the AHL’s Hershey Bears. He will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. He’ll join a Czech defense core highlighted by NHLers Filip Hronek, Radim Simek, and another projected top pick in 2022 in David Jiricek. Like the Slovaks, the Czechs have also split their opening games at the tournament, defeating Great Britain 5-1 before losing to Sweden 5-3.

Three Minnesota Wild Join United States At World Championships

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The Minnesota Wild announced today that forwards Matt Boldy, Ryan Hartman, and defenseman Jonathon Merrill have been added to Team USA’s IIHF World Championship roster.

Boldy and Hartman will both help solidify a forward core that was seriously lacking in talent. The team still got away with a 4-1 win against Latvia to open the tournament, largely in part due to the stellar play of San Jose Sharks prospect Strauss Mann in the net.

After a disappointing end to the Wild’s season, losing in six games in the First Round to the St. Louis Blues, Boldy, Hartman, and Merrill will get the chance for success on the international stage. Boldy earned a mid-season callup to the Wild this season and never looked back, tallying 15 goals, 24 assists, and 39 points in his first 47 NHL contests. Undoubtedly a top-six fixture in Minnesota for years to come, the 2019 12th overall pick joins the United States as their most skilled winger.

Hartman enjoyed a career year between wingers Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello, smashing his previous career-high of 19 goals and 31 points with a 34-goal, 65-point season. He also had a respectable five assists in six playoff games.

Merrill also set a career-high in points this season with 20. The 30-year-old defenseman found a much more solid role in the Wild lineup after failing to make much of an impact with either the Detroit Red Wings or Montreal Canadiens last season.

The US is looking to capture their first gold medal at the tournament since 1960.

Mikael Granlund Joins Finland At World Championships

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The Finnish contingent at the 2022 IIHF World Championships just got notably stronger. The IIHF announced today that Finland added Nashville Predators forward Mikael Granlund to their roster.

The news comes after Granlund’s Predators were swept out of the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Colorado Avalanche. Granlund had three assists in four playoff games, capping off what was a great 2021-22 campaign for him with 64 points in 80 regular-season games.

It’s Granlund’s first time representing Finland at this tournament since 2018 when he was a member of the Minnesota Wild. That year, he served as Finland’s captain, potting two goals and seven assists in eight games as the team lost in the quarterfinals.

This time around, he’ll serve as an alternate captain alongside former NHL defenseman Sami Vatanen and national team veteran Marko Anttila. They sit behind captain Valtteri Filppula as the NHL veteran attempts to join the Triple Gold club with a gold medal in this tournament. Finland got off to a 1-0 start yesterday, defeating Norway 5-0 in their opening game of the Worlds.

Snapshots: Switzerland, Trouba, Lindholm

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The IIHF World Championship will start tomorrow and there are NHL players littered across all of the rosters. One of the most interesting rosters is the one that Switzerland has managed to put together, with names like Timo Meier and Nico Hischier leading the way. Unfortunately for the Swiss, they’ll be without their best option despite him already being eliminated from the NHL playoffs. Roman Josi has turned down the invitation, citing his pregnant wife whom he will be staying with for the next little while.

Josi’s 96-point year was the best season of all time from a Swiss-born player, though Kevin Fiala and Meier both would have also set that record this season had the others not existed (with Hischier not far behind). Fiala is obviously also not on the roster as he continues to battle for the Minnesota Wild, but the success of these players only suggests that Swiss hockey will continue to grow and make an even bigger impact on the NHL in the coming years.

  • There is no supplementary discipline expected for New York Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba’s hit on Sidney Crosby last night, according to several reports including Larry Brooks of the New York Post. Crosby is being evaluated for an upper-body injury after missing the second half of the game, while Trouba will try to help even the series tomorrow night in Pittsburgh after scoring and recording two points yesterday.
  • Speaking of defensemen trying to help even a series, Hampus Lindholm will return for the Boston Bruins in game six tonight after missing the last few with an upper-body injury. Lindholm was injured on a hit from Andrei Svechnikov and held out, but told reporters today that he started to feel better quickly afterward and is now ready to go. The trade deadline acquisition is expected to return to the top pairing with Charlie McAvoy and play a ton as the Bruins fight for their season.

Morning Notes: Team Canada, Crosby, Bokk

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The Canadian contingent for the IIHF World Championship has named their leadership group, with Ottawa Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot given the captaincy. The team will go with a group of alternates including Josh Anderson, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Adam Lowry, and Damon Severson for the event, likely rotating each game.

The tournament, which starts tomorrow, is a nice way for Chabot to get some more on-ice reps after missing a huge chunk of this season, though with the amount he plays it has already been a long year. In 59 games this season, the Senators’ defenseman scored 38 points and averaged more than 26 minutes a night for the third season in a row.

  • There’s no update yet on Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby, as head coach Mike Sullivan only confirmed that his captain is dealing with an upper-body injury and will be evaluated further on their return home. Crosby took a hit from Jacob Trouba in last night’s game that kept him out, and obviously has a long history with head injuries. The Penguins stayed in New York after last night’s loss and will fly to Pittsburgh today to prepare for tomorrow’s game six.
  • After spending half of this season playing back home in Germany, Dominik Bokk is coming back to North America. His club team announced today that Bokk will re-join the Carolina Hurricanes organization for the 2022-23 season, a previously agreed upon decision. After playing 32 games in the AHL this year, Bokk was loaned to Eisbaren Berlin in the DEL for the stretch run, where he scored 11 points in 14 games and another three in 12 playoff contests. The first-round pick originally selected by St. Louis in 2018 has one year left on his entry-level deal.

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