2022 World Junior Championship

Of the 250 players who have been here in Edmonton for the World Juniors, 21 are among the happiest young men in the world because they just heard their names called at the NHL Entry Draft last month. And of those 21, 14 are playing this weekend, looking for a U20 medal before they embark on a pro career. (Of note, there is nary a single goalie in this cohort.) From high choices to very low ones, here is a look at who they are and what they have been doing at the U20 and beyond.

David Jiricek (CZE), 6th, Columbus
Jiricek is one of six Czechs on this list, most of any nation. He played at both the U18 and U20 last year, played one game at the cancelled U20, and then skated for the senior Czechia team at the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Finland, winning a bronze medal. He has been playing nearly 22 minutes a game this tournament.

Jonathan Lekkerimaki (SWE), 15th, Vancouver
He has three assists so far and has not looked out of place among the world’s best juniors. This is his first tournament representing his country, but he has earned the high regard the Canucks hold him in through his play with Djurgarden Stockholm in Sweden. He also was the leading scorer on the U18 team that captured gold this past season.

Joakim Kemell (FIN), 17th, Nashville
One of four Finns from the ’22 draft playing in Edmonton, Kemell has improved right before our eyes in Edmonton. A skilled forward who knows where the net is, he has three goals and eleven points so far and is second in tournament scoring behind Mason McTavish. He has been playing with Jyvaskyla, and the only thing separating him from the NHL is a little more physical development.

Liam Ohgren (SWE), 19th, Minnesota
Another 1st-round choice out of Sweden, Ohgren has had a limited role with coach Tomas Monten. The 18-year-old is a teammate of Lekkerimaki in Djurgarden. He captained Sweden’s gold-medal run at the U18 Worlds just a few months ago, a performance that no doubt contributed to his high draft selection.

Nathan Gaucher (CAN), 22nd, Anaheim
The only Canadian from the 2022 draft class at the World Juniors, Gaucher has slotted in nicely as a bottom-6 forward in Dave Cameron’s lineup. Gaucher has three years of junior hockey in the Q under his belt and, just a couple of weeks before the tournament started, he signed an entry-level contract with the Ducks.

Jiri Kulich (CZE), 28th, Buffalo
What a sensational tournament Kulich is having in Edmonton. Two goals, five points, second on the team in scoring. He came up big when it mattered the most, recording three points in the team’s stunning upset of the U.S. in the quarter-finals.

Brad Lambert (FIN), 30th, Winnipeg
A teammate of Kemell’s in Jyvaskyla, Lambert is an experienced 18-year-old. He played at the U18 and U20 in 2021, winning a bronze in the latter tournament. He had five points in two games at the December edition that was cancelled. And, here he is again after being drafted in the 1st round by the Jets. He has only one goal so far, though, and hasn’t been playing the big minutes.

Matyas Sapovaliv (CZE), 48th, Vegas
He played at the 2021 WM18 and has two goals this year, most notably the game winner midway through the second period of the stunning quarter-finals win over the Americans. The 18-year-old moved to North America to play junior and is with Saginaw in the OHL.

Tomas Hamara (CZE), 87th, Ottawa
Averaging nearly 18 minutes a game, he has been one of the team’s top-6 blueliners and a steadying presence inside their blue line. Born in Prague, he’s playing in Finland as a means of developing his body and skills for the Senators.

Ludvig Jansson (SWE), 125th, Florida
Although he has been without a point in four games so far, Jansson is known for his offensive skills and ability to move the puck. Over the course of the past season, though, his draft stock dipped, but the 18-year-old out of Sodertalje still has plenty of time to grow.

Petr Hauser (CZE), 141st, New Jersey
He has a goal and assist in limited action this tournament and has been playing at home in Czechia so far in his career. He’ll likely take longer to make an impact, but the experience he gains here can only benefit his progress.

David Spacek (CZE), 153rd, Minnesota
The defender is leading his team in ice time, 21:45 a game, and he also played at the 2021 U18. Like many a Czech, he moved to Canada to play junior and get noticed, and it worked. In Spacek’s case, he is in the Q playing for Sherbrooke.

Petteri Nurmi (FIN), 194th, Montreal
Nurmi has played in only two games so far, and at 20 he is one of the players given a special exemption by the IIHF to play despite having turned 20 back on January 12. He played two games at the cancelled tournament in December and has been skating in the top league in Finland. These factors probably helped him get drafted this year after being passed over his first two years of eligibility.

Joel Maatta (FIN), 222nd, Edmonton
Despite the low selection at the draft, Maatta has three goals in five games at these World Juniors, and he went from the USHL to the University of Vermont last season. Big and strong, he scored the game winner against Germany on the opening day of the World Juniors last Boxing Day.

Source: iihf.com

Canada was led by Kent Johnson, formerly of the University of Michigan and soon to be Columbus Blue Jackets, who had a goal and two gems of assists, and Logan Stankoven, who had a goal and assist. He was a pepper pot of problems for Czechia all night long and won an incredible 21 of 23 faceoffs. Olen Zellweger chipped in with three helpers on the night as well.

“It’s really, really cool,” Connor Bedard said of the team’s chances for gold. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet. We’re just so excited to have that opportunity. I thought we were really good from the start. Sure, they’re gonna press a bit sometimes, but I thought overall we took control of the game.”

“It was a tough game,” offered Czechia forward Jakub Kos. “We allowed two goals in the first period, but we didn’t put our heads down. We tried to play hard in the second period and I think did that. We had two stupid penalties and we had two goals scored on us on the power play. So that’s where the game changed. Still, we got within two goals in the third period. Everybody on our team put everything into the game.”

Playing an energetic but patient opening period, Canada scored the only two goals in a period they might have had several more but for the goaltending of Tomas Suchanek. The hosts opened the scoring at 10:04 thanks to the single-minded determination of Stankoven. He twisted and turned down the right side and made a great pass to Tyson Foerster at the side of the goal. Foerster had the open net, but Suchanek dove to make a ridiculous save, only to see the puck squirt out to Stankoven, who didn’t miss.

Five minutes later, the 17-year-old Bedard added another chapter to the book called “Here’s why he’ll be drafted number one next year.” He took a long pass from Nathan Gaucher and went in from a bit of a bad angle down the left side. But scorers score, and Bedard found a small opening under the glove of Suchanek, and that’s where he wired a shot to make it 2-0 Canada.

Dylan Garand, playing in his fifth straight game, wasn’t particularly busy, but he made a great right-pad save from point blank off the stick of Jakub Kos to do his part.

The game was penalty free until the midway point of the second, after which three minors, two to Czechia, changed the rhythm of the game. Stankoven was back at it with Canada’s first advantage, taking a lovely back pass from Johnson at the Czechia blue line and skating in alone. He made no mistake, firing a shot over Suchanek’s glove.

Moments later, Gaucher hit the post, and then Canada killed off a penalty for too many players. They then went back on the power play, and this time Johnson faked a shot before passing to captain Mason McTavish, who fired a one-timer into the open back side of the goal for a solid 4-0 lead at 16:11. It was his tournament-leading 8th marker and 15th point.

“I just wound up the slap shot and was kind of thinking about it, but I saw McTavish there and obviously was happy he hammered it home. He doesn’t really miss many of those,” Johnson said.

Czechia finally got on the board midway through the third when Jiri Kulich dropped the puck for Jan Mysak, and his quick shot went under the blocker of Garand at 10:54 to make it a 4-1 game with his 5th goal of the tournament.

But the Czechs weren’t done just yet. Less than two minutes later they cut the lead to two on a power play, David Jiricek’s quick point shot finding room under Garand’s glove at 12:44 to make the ending a little more interesting.

Stankoven was having none of a Czechia comeback, however. He roared in on the forecheck to steal the puck, and it landed on the stick of Joshua Roy to the side of the goal. He stuffed it in past Pavel Cajan, who had come in to replace Suchanek to start the third.