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]

What a squad.

Is it December 26th yet?#WJC 2019 pic.twitter.com/gPEcAWYGow

— Alex (@AbsCoverage) December 3, 2018

Sweden's preliminary roster for the World Juniors 2019. pic.twitter.com/XGCd01vIDT

— Uffe Bodin (@UffeBodin) December 5, 2018

FIN announces WJC camp roster. This group would look a lot different with Kotkaniemi (MTL), Heiskanen (DAL), Jokiharju (CHI) and Vaakanainen (BOS). https://t.co/tcqthUsrAq

— Bobby Margarita (@TSNBobMcKenzie) December 3, 2018

Czech U20 national team roster for the @iihf_wjc camp has been announced. pic.twitter.com/jeMcx9r01R

— Czech Prospects (@CZprospects) December 3, 2018

Team Russia U20 WJC camp roster has been announced. #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/XNCrUHtYBf

— Russian Prospects (@RUSProspects) December 5, 2018

USA forwards in camp. pic.twitter.com/uGQE6PlDm2

— Chris Peters (@chrismpeters) December 5, 2018

[.]

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]

Story time:
In the 2015 World Juniors tournament, Frederik Gauthier cracked the lineup, posting one assist in seven games (in an 8-0 victory over Denmark).

Mitch Marner was cut from that team, despite posting 126 points in the OHL that season.

— The Leafs Nation (@TLNdc) December 16, 2018

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]

SWE's WJC roster:

F: Bemstrom Fagemo Sodergran Back Sveningsson Olofsson Hallander Lundestrom Elvenes Hugg Gustafsson Zetterlund Holmberg

D: Boqvist Ginning Sandin Lundqvist Brannstrom Westerlund Broberg

G: Eriksson Ek Ersson Ahman

— Corey Pronman (@coreypronman) December 23, 2018

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).

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[Zee]

3 point first period by Morgan Frost