Dec 31, 2015
Hot Button Issues: WJC Day 6
Each day throughout the World Junior Championship, TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button brings important issues and topics surrounding the tournament to the forefront.
By Craig Button
Each day throughout the World Junior Championship, TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button brings important issues and topics surrounding the tournament to the forefront.
HBI 1: Czechs' Last Chance
Czech Republic enters the final day of 2014 with a final chance to redeem itself. I had the Czechs placing second in Group B and reaching the semifinals in the playoffs. So far, they have been a major disappointment and their only hope of advancing is to upset Russia and hope Switzerland doesn't earn a point vs. Sweden.
HBI 2: Life without Leon
Should the Oilers have loaned Leon Draisaitl to Germany for the tournament? We assume that were he Canadian, he would have automatically been sent to the WJC. But would this have served Draisaitl's interests? Would he have been better off being asked to carry a weak team in the Canadian national spotlight? Probably not.
HBI 3: The Great Dane(s)
Shootout-scoring Oliver Bjorkstrand and tiny goalie Georg Sorenson are today's faces of the feel-good story of the tournament. Perhaps not since Kazakhstan upset Canada in 1998 to place seventh has a non-hockey power captured the imagination of tournament fans like Denmark which celebrated its first-ever Pool A win.