2019 World Juniors Hockey Championship

[herman]

Kicks off Dec 26.

Confirmed Leafs prospects in the mix:
Ian Scott
Filip Kral
Rasmus Sandin
Pontus Holmberg

Out:
Eemeli Rasanen nope
Joseph Woll old
Timothy Liljegren (injured)

[CarltonTheBear]

I've read that last years 6th rounder, Pontus Holmberg, is having a pretty good season and playing himself into contention for the WJC team.

[CarltonTheBear]

Also Liljegren got hurt over the weekend. No word on the severity yet but something to keep an eye on. It'd be a shame if it kept him out of this.

[Frank E]

Is Scott a front-runner to start for Canada?

[CarltonTheBear]

Is Scott a front-runner to start for Canada?

From my light reading it seems like the two goalies will be him and Michael DiPietro. DiPietro's only 11-8 this season but he has the best GAA in the OHL and the 5th best Sv%. He was last years OHL Goalie of the Year and has a Memorial Cup under his belt from 2017. So he's arguably got a better pedigree, but Scott obviously has the better stats this season. The starter will probably be decided by whoever looks better in the preliminary games.

[herman]

As documented in the Ranking Prospects thread, Ian Scott has been playing behind what appears to be a historic WHL group. They're a veteran-laden team at the moment (lots of 19s), and they're just clicking. To illustrate the type of PDO bender they're on right now, they're apparently +5 (15-10) in goal differential when shorthanded. Whatever magic sauce Scott got from his brief Marlie-stint into the Calder Run, it's coming up big time for the Raiders as well when they do occasionally give up some chances.

It'll be interesting to see how the Raiders do without him in net (probably close to the same until regression strikes).

[herman]

https://twitter.com/AbsCoverage/status/1069704737799503872
https://twitter.com/UffeBodin/status/1070291943505190912
https://twitter.com/TSNBobMcKenzie/status/1069591629432909824
https://twitter.com/CZprospects/status/1069532830169006080
https://twitter.com/RUSProspects/status/1070324620287459328
https://twitter.com/chrismpeters/status/1070433374316187648

[.]

Any insight into how strong Canada is this year vs the competition? Who's favoured?

[herman]

Alex Formenton (Team Canada, Ottawa prospect) went down with an injury in a World Juniors tune up game. No updates on his status.

Whatever spirit of hockey injury Melnyk conjured following the Uber video has been working overtime.

[herman]

https://twitter.com/tlndc/status/1074450892261416960

I don't remember this, but hot diggity.

[herman]

Scott is starting in tonight's tune up vs Slovakia. He made a great toe save on a partial breakaway opportunity but is now just chilling at his net because Canada is rolling and up 2-0.

[herman]

A bit more interesting for Scott now as he was suddenly faced with a 3 on 1, gobbling up the slot shot with no damage done.

[herman]

https://twitter.com/coreypronman/status/1076908715423481858

Rasmus Sandin and Pontus Holmberg have made the final cut of Team Sweden's roster.

[herman]

Filip Kral looks to be an integral part of the Czech squad (I didn't watch).

https://twitter.com/51leafs/status/1078077870906462208
https://twitter.com/51leafs/status/1078036084322390016

[Zee]

3 point first period by Morgan Frost