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Game over a heartbreaker for Canada at the world junior hockey championships as they fall to czechia 3-2 as a new generation of Canadians learns about heartbreaking losses to czechia on an international stage welcome to game over International everyone for the 20 24f World Junior Hockey Championships a collaboration between sdpn sports along
With EP ringside and Elite prospects uh joining me today is Mitchell Brown uh he writes articles for EP ringside and does the videos for elite prospects you can find him on X at Mitch L Brown uh Mitchell how are you today I’m doing pretty well that was a crazy start and I
Am shocked I think that is the first time I’ve heard someone called Twitter X in the wild so I was not anticipating that look it felt dirty coming out I I’ll say that it it felt very weird it’s like yeah find this guy on X like that sounds like something I shouldn’t be
Saying uh but that’s that that is what it is uh my name is Peter Klein I am uh also the host or one of the hosts of game over Calgary so I am very used to being a hockey therapist which is basically what we are going to be for
All of you today we already got 43 people in the chat uh you didn’t like the result probably uh but like this video And subscribe to the channel as we break it all down um and Mitchell I I guess we start with how that game ended
Um if if we were doing a live stream while that was happening an audible gasp came out of my mouth as the the shot deflects in off of Bon uh goes pass through so firstly I just want to say um it is our job to to break these things
Down and so we will be probably critical of a few of the players here uh but if you’re on the internet sending messages to literal children about a loss at a hockey tournament you’re a bad person uh so don’t do that um I think a lot of
This is on the upper brass of Team Canada we have a lot to talk about from from this game but that ending is about as heartbreaking as you can draw it up what did you see as that game concluded uh with Canada falling in the quarterfinals so it starts at at around
The 25 second Mark Denton M chuk has the puck I think he goes to bank it off the boards to his teammate it misses czechia gets the puck they carry it back in across the line against matechuk who backed off he didn’t have the ability to recover fully and so then from there
They make a little passing play Mata grabs his guy backs off a little bit stanil shoots it deflects off a stick so it’s kind of a breakdown of matay Chuck who was Canada’s best player in this game by a country mile um him missing that outlet and then
Not being able to get the break up playing it a little too safe which I don’t think I’ve ever said about Denton matay chuk before and then Bon being a little too far off as man and deflecting that shot in rouso not being able to
Track it but you know he didn’t have a great game or so but it’s tough to blame him for one that deflects in just like it’s a weird angle when you deflect a puck from instead of like it being in front of the goalie sight line when it
Comes in at an angle it can completely change the way that the goalie moves because if it’s in front of you when it deflect you’re still going to have the initial shot prepared for you you’re still in set you’re still in shooting mode when it comes from an angle like that you know
It’s it’s a real tough It’s a real tough save to make it catches him going in the wrong way it doesn’t feel very good so yeah it’s it’s a tough ending um it’s just like a combination of things and I think as you alluded to you know there
Were some poor roster decisions in the in the leadup to the tournament and then there were also some poor coaching decisions which I think we will be talking about quite a bit today yeah no for sure there’s a lot that goes into to this one and like that that shot at the
End you could shoot that that way 10 times I think it goes in twice like just the the way it deflects and then it deflects off of the post and it deflects off of the post in a way that it’s going to go into the net um all of it just
Plays out in a way of just absolute heartbreak and yeah matuk um it’s kind of I mean it’s gutting for all of them they’re 18-year-old kids on the this stage but for matuk it is absolutely gutting because of like you said how well he played and um you would you
Would have a better grasp of his overall Prospect profile than I would but uh yeah safe does not really appear there a whole lot he is very aggressive player very confident player as well like he is we should all be as confident as he is in his Puck handling abilities but I I
Think part of it too czechia while Canada had the puck in the offensive zone a lot czechia there was a couple of times on on potential breakouts for Canada where czechia was making life a little bit miserable so I wonder if there was uh a little bit that in the
Head I I do want to give a touch of credit to the the opposition as well um because I think czechia while there was a little bit of Bend but don’t break they they certainly didn’t make it life easy on Canada in this game no no they
Came to play they were very well structured very well organized I mean they also had a lot of turnovers a lot of bad plays in the neutral zone that could have easily gone the opposite way but I think when you look at their when you look at their team they had a couple
Things they had stanel really step up he scored the first goal and the final goal he hasn’t been much of a factor this tournament otherwise Dominic remon was fantastic Andre Becker was fantastic in this game so they stepped up in the place of yri kulich and uh mat isov
Having relatively quiet nights and they also got it from their defense too tomus shabala plays for valdor in the qmjhl was really Dynamic elusive he was on guys early so I think overall like czechia managed to match Canada through 40 minutes or I guess through 40 minutes
And 11 seconds they matched them the the first part of the third period didn’t go their way but I mean they really play played well really effective stayed with their system they were tactically strong and I think this is a result that they earned like it was a game that could
Have gone either way so they they they they won this and it’s going to be very interesting to see them in the semis now we’ll see how it shakes out but I mean they’re a team that has the high-end skill to go with anyone and as we’ve
Seen in today’s game they have the Tactical awareness to do it as well yeah no that they are one of the we hear it all the time in the playoff whether it’s the NHL or the NFL coming up here they’re a team you don’t want to face um
I don’t think I’m I’m the Americans or the swedes looking at that czechia team and going oh man can’t wait for 60 Minutes of that in the uh in the semi-finals because that was it just it felt like they were miserable to play against and in the early part of the
Game Canada didn’t make life all that difficult on them um it was noted a lot on social media it felt like one too many passes was the mantra for this team that that whole game they were kind of being a little bit too cute it felt like
And that’s how you don’t get a shot for the last 12 and a half minutes uh of a period And I thought for for Canada there was a little bit of white knuckling the whole time like it really got that way in the third period but
There was a little bit of just like they they were the the hockey epitomy of the whole time like they just they they looked a little spooked out there at some points from an evaluation standpoint we don’t want to when you’re looking at the The Scouting again
Profile of a player you don’t want to over evaluate or or put too much weight into even one tournament or let alone one game or one period but when a whole team is kind of playing almost a little spooked is it a bit more difficult to
Evaluate or do you just kind of throw that on it’s like well everyone kind of had a a rough time and we’ll just look at the second period how from a a scouting standpoint how do you look at a period like that so I think usually when
You have a tough period it’s a combination of factors that came before and in the case of Canada they I mean the people who are bringing out that they overpassing are 100% correct I am a guy who thinks that you should pass to create tapin but this was an extreme
Throughout this entire tournament it’s guys walking in into high danger areas and then making that extra pass to a guy who has two Defenders on him and so on and so part of the success that mlin celebrini had this tournament was he knew when to make the extra pass but he
Also knew when to just let a rip like there was something very cathartic about him scoring two goals against Germany that were both just shots like he didn’t he didn’t try to pass it he just walked in and fired up the first one then the second one he beats the goalie to the
Puck and then rips it from a crazy angle so that was a big problem and as you do like okay so from a tactical level they’re trying to Juice shot quality and doing that it’s clearly a team wide Trend this is also how Saria plays in the OHL to a degree
So in doing that though you lose some of the you lose some of the quantity and there’s also always tradeoffs if you have a high danger chance and you pass sure if you get that tap in it’s going to be much better but there’s the probability that you don’t and in many
Of these cases the probability that you aren’t going to get that tap in is like 95% so the trade-off isn’t really worth it in that case and when you play a style that’s so focused on generating shot quality so rebounds deflections tappings and so on you’re going to be
More vulnerable to getting taken down by teams that are able to shut those opportuni out and you’re also more vulnerable to bad luck because those are plays that are generally low frequency and so if you can’t get your say 10 of them a game that you’re going to need to
Score two goals on then you’re you’re not going to have any alternative and so to tie this back to Denton Mata he was the one guy who realized this on the team he came out and he just started firing everything that that opening shift of the third period on the power
Play where he’s like walking in firing off a bunch of chances then his next shift he comes out he’s creating offense he was a guy who really sort of figured out that hey we need to get pucks on net we need to get inside take advantage of
The opportunities that we had so full credit to him it’s it’s kind of heartbreaking that he’s involved in that last sequence after not only did he have a great game but he’s the guy who adapted and figured out that we need to start generating more chances or start
Taking the chances that we get rather than trying to put everything into the back the net on a highlight re passing play yeah and it’s like while all if you’re looking at it from a Canada perspective like yeah we’re we’re a little nervous we’re a little on edge
This is one of the biggest games we’ll ever play it’s the same for that dude too the the other goalie is also having those nerves and so put it on net and you see what sheia was able to do um the the point shot uh long point shot like
It’s a good shot and there’s a screen in front but it’s not like a phenomenal setup whatever it’s just boom and it goes in and then a chance off of the rush not trying to do too much not trying to overpass it now he was behind the defense so passing it would have
Been insane but he still just puts the shot on goal and it goes in I think you could have learned a little bit there from czechia to like hey this is what they are doing and I I think Canada did get a little bit better at it uh you
Mentioned matuk I thought like celebrini had one thought in mind the entire time and that was just shoot the puck but I I do think that maybe they they picked up on that a little bit too late yeah definitely and also shout out to Nate Danielson who never detered from
Shooting the puck this tournament I mean he was of the most cons of the shooters I think he had like nine shot attempts at five on five like he was just really going for it and he had a real nice game in on the fourth line or the third line
Whenever they were listed that so uh yeah you know you play this shot quality focused game focus on like low frequency plays this is what happens yeah and you mentioned that line uh they were number three on the line sheet number one in our hearts they they were so much fun to
Watch this whole tournament and uh I thought particularly Beck and Danielson really stood out in this game and that line uh got the the match up on on kulich Kulik uh sorry for the the pronunciation but uh they got the the match up with the top player on the
Other team and I thought did a pretty good job of shutting that line down and forcing some other uh czechia players to to stand out we’ll talk about some of the other utilization of these players in a little bit and and how Canada maybe the the coaching staff potentially let
This team down a bit uh but the utilization of that checking line of Beck Danielson and Allard what did you think of how they were used and how they were able to to execute in this game so the first thing Owen Beck is I mean the faceoff Master very very dependable in
The defensive Zone a very strong off- Puck player so what you saw a lot from him every game especially today is how he’s able to use his body to create a little bit of space for his teammates so it’s the for checking it’s how he pushes
Guys around the net how he gets through their hands along the boards and so on so he was opening up a lot of opportunities for Nate Danielson to throw pucks from the throw pucks on the net from anywhere that he possibly could so I think in that context that line was
Very effective they played a very smart game they’re very fast they’re not the most physical line Danielson doesn’t really hit people but he had a couple of good moments where he was playing a little bit heavier than you normally see and so in the case of both players I
Think you’re looking at can they adapt to playing more of a checking line role and they both passed with flying color in that in that way the tournament is a is a big positive for them and bra Jagger who substituted in there for ARD at times was also quite good he was able
To create some offense showed more playmaking flare to his game which we don’t normally see too much so we saw some adaptability in the lower rungs of the lineup that maybe we didn’t always get higher up this is game over International for the 2024 IHF World Junior Hockey Championships uh with sdpn
And EP ringside uh obviously a lot to break down from this game and from this tournament we will be answering your questions in the third segment as we do a little bit of a presser if you’re new to to game over uh or sdpn just in
General um that that’s kind of how we handle things at the end of these shows so if you have any questions uh for Mitchell by all means um like ask away I’ll try to find them in the chat as we go along uh but we’ll be be specifically
Answering questions at the end of this one and I think Hockey Canada and the coaching staff have a lot of questions to answer for themselves uh given how this whole thing of played out um and I I think it kind of rings true in this last game cuz that that third period
There were times like you would look and czechia would get one chance after Canada is like eight and you be oh wow yeah this game is still tied like you it never it never really felt like a a tie game until uh with 12 seconds left the
Puck bounces into your net and oh well now it’s over um but it it did feel like the the the roster Construction in general was a bit questionable and then you you kind of mentioned it here that the utilization of some of those guys in this particular game what was a little
Bit questionable as well in Canada I think we tend to romanticize a bit too much the Plucky checking hardworking guys who just grind away some talented dudes on this team and some talented dudes left off of this team I guess we we’ll start bigger picture and get um
Kind of shrink it down a little bit um what did you think of of how Canada constructed this roster and how they were used in this game and in this tournament so the first thing that struck me every single game was they really needed another offensive defenseman they really needed someone
Who could control the game from the point activate a lot fill space in the offensive zone set up teammates now this player doesn’t have a lot of points but he’s the 6’4 version of Denton matchu and they’re also related ow and Pickin so not even inviting him to Camp was a
Pretty big Miss because suddenly you don’t really have a ton of offensive floor adding him like like honestly like it probably changed the complexion of the team significantly because now you have another guy who you can play 20 minutes a night and he’s going to create offensive passing plays he’s going to
Jump into the rush he’s going to fit what Canada does but he’s going to be better at doing those things than every other defenseman on the team not named Denton so that was a big Miss and then up front obviously Riley height I understand why they didn’t bring him
There are some discipline issues some attitude issues there where he can get a little too fiery and sometimes be taken out of the game but he also has like half a million points in half a WHL season so far so maybe they just bring him as a power play specialist and let
Him cook I mean he looks like a guy who could run an NHL power play today so that would have been nice to have I think hunter hate though was the most shocking one that they didn’t even invite he has the team Canada heavy hockey wellbeing insanely skilled he’s
Got ankle breaking moves he plays to the inside he’s fast he’s a strong defensive player not even inviting him was a really big Miss and I think when you look at that Danielson backline having him right there with them playing that Wing he would have been able to create a
Ton a ton of more offense with them help them create more High danger chances and put more Pucks in the back of the net now as for the usage in particular uh Matthew Wood had played six minutes or four he played four minutes through 40 minutes he scored he scored a goal yeah
Yeah man that that but when he when he fired that shot I was like look man I don’t care about the rest of this game Canada’s working real hard to create any kind of offense that that one seemed pretty easy for him uh that shot should
Not be playing I think it was 52 seconds in the first period we need what whatever else he does whatever that shot needs to be out there a whole lot more and and Carson ROV as well I mean I don’t know what more they could have
Wanted from Carson ROV he was one of their best players in the tournament and he only probably he probably only played like 45 minutes in in five games like okay I like I I honestly I really struggle with this one because he destroyed Alan L tangs the head coach he
Destroyed sarna and their three meetings so clearly the head coach has seen this guy cook at his best he was creating chances left and right he was driving the net they wanted him to play more physical they challenged him and sure he wasn’t exactly uh hitting people hard
But he was really really trying to bring it and and not not giving him more opportunity and up kind of costing them a little bit because a he would have had more chances in this game but if you remember he missed that tap in against Germany on the power play where he
Fumbles the puck and then he goes to pass it this is why you don’t mess with your goal scores this is why you don’t mess with them you don’t play them you put them in positions that they’re not familiar with mistakes are going to add up and then it becomes this
Self-fulfilling cycle where oh he’s not scoring goals so we can’t play him and then the confidence in that player gets lower and lower and lower and then you introduce self-doubt and you know it’s just they managed him in particular very poorly the entire tournament um if they
Just put him in the top six straight away let Carson ROV do what Carson ROV does he’s a goal per game in the ol his playmaking has improved significantly he’s trying to take people’s heads off now because the coach asked him to do it they would have had more success he
Probably would have scored in this game he would have scored in Germany all the pressure that that team would have felt especially I mean the guys feel it right as a player you feel it you you’re playing Germany and it’s a close competitive game you feel that if Carson
ROV scores that goal it’s only one period where it’s close yeah and that changes the complexion of it so much yeah absolutely and like tonight he had a play I think it was the third period he had a play where he kind of dragged around a defenseman got into the slot
And then passed it off and you could just like you could almost watch him think out there like you could see the the wheels turning and like that he he strikes me as a kid who just has such great offensive instincts and obviously has a lot of offensive talent but you
Could see like you were saying like it was just messing with him like okay well I need to pass this because that’s what we’re supposed to do but it’s like no man like you just dangled one guy one more move and you got a great scoring
Opportunity um and I I think there there was that kind of like just kind of messing with his head and even like to start the tournament celebrini was playing basically in a checking role and they corrected that one pretty quickly um but the like the first game he he he
Felt like he was caught between okay well I’m supposed to be like Pucks in deep guy but I can just beat all of these dudes and and put the puck on goal and quite frankly that’s something I’ve noticed um I’ve done play-by-play for a lot of minor hockey tournaments here
With with like a lot of like top talent at those age groups and even there you see like there there’s a kid who’s like 6’4 and shaving and he’s going up against a defenseman who like hasn’t hit puberty yet but still has to jump the
Puck in and go after it like I I think there’s a a bigger systemic thing going on but it it just it yeah it really did feel like they were hellbent on creating this identity that we going to outwork everyone and that’s going to be the
Style of play and it ended up being a Canadian team where goal scoring they had to work so hard to create all of their opportunities and I I I think rayon is a great example of how maybe there was a few more talented guys on this team that could have been utilized
In different ways absolutely and they could have just taken this roster coached it a little bit differently not messed with their goal scorers and they would have won gold or they would have at least been competitive for gold and the entire tournament felt like man I
Don’t know I don’t know and then that’s when the decisions to leave people like Jagger ferus Hunter ha Owen Pickering and Riley height so on look worse uh especially because so I think the strange part about this is this is not the heaviest most physical team they
Could have assembled and it’s not the most skilled team they could have assembled so what exactly was it supposed to be and that’s not not really an insult to any of the players who were picked I mean they’re all Team Canada level players the reality of it is is
That there are like 50 of them at any given time so yeah it’s just a very interesting or maybe I should frame it a little bit differently because they just lost in the quarter finals it was a very poorly constructed roster and the coaching was lackluster at best yeah and I think a
Lot of times like in World Juniors when I was growing up um that there there was always the oh Canada’s B Team could have won silver at this tournament you know and so you kind of could have just picked like I don’t know names out of a
Hat and you would have won Gold that that’s where Canada was but we’re not there anymore and that’s um I I think a credit to a lot of Nations who who have stepped up and have developed through this tournament and through others as well and so now that there is a little
Bit more importance placed on on how they’re going to um how they’re going to pick these teams how they’re going to assemble all the talent that they they have the options for and I I hope that kind of bigger picture moving forward they do understand that like that there
Is it’s not just going to be able to just rise and grind and and beat all these teams you do have to create offense a little bit easier and I hope that this kind of is a bit of a wakeup call for Canada in general at
Tournaments such as this to to put maybe a bit more importance on some of that high-end talent because that is eventually what what ends up winning out in these things absolutely and high-end Talent can appear in many different ways right we often assume that it’s zero
Some you have high end talion you don’t got anything else and that’s not really the case there are lots of guys who can combine these things and there are lots of guys who they might not show it in Junior but when you put them in the world juniors they’re going to be super
Adaptable and play the way that Canada wants them to play the idea is about finding players who can do it all and then you fit them into the role because when they get the opportunity to play offense then they’re going to get more out of those opportunities than players
Who are Checkers and you bring them to check yeah yeah so no it’s there’s obviously a a lot to look at from a Canadian perspective coming out of this tournament a disappointing result for sure um it’s been like aside from some of the Canada games that have been a
Little bit frustrating it has been um quite the tournament so far uh Canada is done but still uh finland’s an interesting team to watch with a couple of players that that I think are exciting um czechia we just saw that they have a few players to to watch the
USA is basically filled with players to watch um and and Sweden as well um just taking a bit of a step back from this game who who are some of the players who have caught your eye in this tournament Ryan Leonard has been a star this tournament I mean he’s been the best
Player on his line maybe there were some doubts that he wasn’t a play driver you know he’s played with peran Smith for a few years now you know is he that guy does he actually have that offensive upside it’s over the debate’s over he’s been the most dynamic of the three he’s
Been the best offensive player I mean he plays to the inside he’s very physical he’s comically strong on the puck he’s showing a lot of playmaking I mean he was had he’s having games where he’s racking up tons of chances and he’s still setting his teammates up for high
Quality looks like what more can you possibly want and then Frank nasar is back Frank nzar is back his draft plus one didn’t go to plan he arguably returned from injury a little too early he’s been a point per game through college this year and I mean those passing those passes this tournament
They have been Wicked he’s just ripping that puck cross eyes perfect through seams I mean it the play selection the vision the inside play the speed he was a top prospect we ranked him I think fifth for the 2022 NHL draft and he’s playing like
That so far um on the Canadian side a lot of focus was going to be on on mlin celebrini um it’s tough to improve from number one overall pick projection uh but it’s almost like he became number one er um like it felt like his stock
Raised even from being the the top in this tournament and like again you’re going to be able to put it much more strategically than I am but you just you the mood changed when he was on the ice like you just you knew when he was out there every time because
Something Dynamic was happening I I know like from um again I do game over Calgary a lot of flames fans are hoping that the team bottoms out and that didn’t change watching mlin celebrini uh whatever team gets mlin celebrini looks like they’re going to be getting a good
One what have you made of his tournament uh that I guess is now done so when you’re looking at prospects of this tournament you don’t want to sway you don’t want the tournament to sway your opinion too much given that it’s a short sample but you’re using it to evaluate
Players in a different environment a different role different context and you know they’re across the world it’s going to be a little bit tricky to adjust and so the guys who can really shine and pick it up right away are generally players who are going to you know you’re
Evaluating them you’re going to think they’re a little bit further along the pathway to the NHL than the other ones and I think celebra the question was is he going to be NHL ready next year not like to Simply sign and play but to be actually good in the
NHL and play and his ability to play through some adversity his ability to adapt to the situation around him and his ability to recognize things that his teammates and the coaching staff weren’t and played to his strengths while still maintaining that high-paced Dynamic flare playmaking side to his game shows
That he is ready to step into the NHL next season and score and be effective so that’s that’s all it did just confirm that he’s ready to do this yeah yeah it’s that like just I I was so blown away watch watching this kid play um
Like you said we don’t want to overreact to Too Much from a tournament like this but were there a couple of other players on the Canadian side who maybe leveled up for you in this tournament whether it be a skill set we didn’t know based on a
Different role or just like we we said before kind of validating what we already thought about the player so the first one is probably Jake Furlong I thought he was can best defensive Defender uh great stick in the neutral zone angled guys wide kept a lot of kept
A lot of opponents glued to the boards he was good at matching footwork along the boards physical he killed a ton of plays made some slick breakout passes along the way he’s a guy who I haven’t seen a ton from in Halifax over the
Years but now when I go back on him my opinion is going to be completely changed because I’m going to see all the small little things that made him effective here and I’m going to be looking for them right or wrong uh in Halifax so I think he had a nice
Tournament the San Jose the San Jose Sharks Prospect uh and Denton matuk the question has been with him what’s he going to look like in the NHL and I think the answer is he’s going to look like this in the NHL uh he streamlined his game a fair bit he kept things
Simpler while he was still activating into the play you know what’s the one thing that stood out about Denton is that he activated more than anyone and he never got burned for it because he’s so good at picking his spots and he’s so good at making the play when he gets
That puck in deep so this this is what he’s going to look like in the NHL and the rich on the rich are going to get richer with regards to their defense in Columbus I mean that blue line is going to be ridiculous so those would be the
Two guys who kind of changed the Outlook a little bit or altered their timeline for me yeah matuk was one who stood out to to me um like just like you said like he was always active offensively but whether it was picking his spots or like
The kid can skate too um he can kind of mask a few of those problems and he was one where like we talked about Canada had a bit of a difficult time generating offense he was one of the top generators it felt like when he was out there on
His shifts I liked him a lot and again I I can’t talk enough about how much I liked uh the pairing of Beck and Danielson whether it was joerger or or Allard out there with them um I think Detroit and Montreal have to be thrilled with what they’ve seen from a couple of
Their top prospects in this tournament yeah Beck’s gonna slide real nice into Montreal’s bottom six next season and it’s going to go pretty well Danielson as well Danielson has proven that he has the checking game to fit into an NHL bottom six I think this tournament a little bit more physicality and he’ll
Get there um we talk about the goalies a lot in this tournament uh matis rouso this has to be a difficult one and I I’ve always said um as I play pretend amateur Scout here goalies are the most difficult to to to scout anyway like players it’s like oh good Edge work and
Great hands great footwork like he said matching footwork on the boards um and stuff like that and goalies it’s like I don’t know he got in the way really well um I I have a bit of a difficult time with him with with goalies but Russo in
General like I thought both of the early goals were ones he would probably like to have back and then he made two absolute like 10 Bell saves I think four of the five saves of the tournament were provided by him so he makes the real difficult ones look real easy but maybe
Whiffed on a couple he would like to have back that must make for a difficult evaluation for a goenda where usually he’s a little bit more composed he’s not really the type of guy he’s going to make the high highend save he’s going to just eat the
Puck so you know I really would have liked Samuel s to get a look I think he’s been the better of the two in the qmjhl I think he’s the more Dynamic goenda so it would have been nice if they gave him a chance and because they
Decided to run rouso all four games you know he probably was a little bit fatigued he wasn’t quite as sharp in this game as a result and they couldn’t outscore it which you know you can see how all the problems with the team compound yeah yeah it’s weird how it
Kind of branches off from this therefore that it’s like well hm a lot of these pieces starting to to come together leading to a a quarterfinal exit but yeah um blog rates mentioning U maybe Team Canada should have arrested Russo at some point did need to play uh versus
Germany the lval one was the one that felt a little excessive to to me as well and I get like these are goalies who will probably play four five six games in a row at a time with their their junior teams or potentially at next levels to too like that’s can sometimes
Be how the position works but this is such a unique tournament with all of this focus and so much on all these games like physically it’s probably exhausting I would be toast but I’m twice his age um but mentally that has to just be wearing and at some point
Like you said that like it’s tough to be 1,00% sharp all the time and I I wonder if that damn kind of broke a little bit early on for him absolutely and of course there’s the context too you know you fly across the world you’re with new
People you’re in a new environment it’s unfamiliar it’s harder to adjust it’s harder to be 100% all the time and so yeah they they really really really should have given SAR a look really yeah um all right this is game over International for the 2024 IHF World Junior Hockey Championships with sdpn
And EP ringside uh this might be the last one of these uh we’re still discussing whether we want to do more that don’t involve Canada uh for gold medal games and stuff like that but uh if you got any questions let us know in the presser now uh just send them on in
In the chat uh while you are doing that it it’s just like a slight move of the mouse away like the video uh subscribe to the uh sdpn Sports YouTube channel we are so close to 100,000 subscribers uh which would open up a whole lot of doors
For us and let us do a whole lot more cool stuff like this um uh this is my second game here on on game over International I’ve had a blast doing these and uh I don’t know if uh me getting to do a a czechia Finland gold
Medal game would quite provide the the same kind of rush but still hoping to be doing a whole lot more cool stuff like this so let us know if you have any thoughts in the um in the chat coming off of a heartbreaking and disappointing loss for Team Canada here at the 2024
World Junior Hockey Championship uh I’m Peter Klein you can find me on social media at Prime Time Klein he is Mitchell Brown you can find him at Mitch lbrown um on Twitter or x uh depending on your your preference there um I guess this is one piece of of the bigger Prospect um
Puzzle pie however you want to say it I think that the next one that a lot of people look at is the the top prospects tournament that or top prospects game Sorry that that’s obviously going to feature a lot of different names from from this one um but when you’re looking
At the the overall Prospect profile that this is a a beston best unique tournament how big of a a piece of the whole scouting portfolio does this particular tournament uh kind of take up it very much depends on the player so for European players who are generally
Playing professional at this age this is an opportunity to showcase their full skill set to remind you of who they were when they were 16 and 17 years old and so in that case it’s a little bit more about making sure that they still have their skill well having improved other
More professional parts of their game so in that context it can be pretty big but if a guy has a bad tournament you can easily just turn around and say like look the context wasn’t in his favor and so on and so forth so it doesn’t change
It that much it’s more a timeline thing I think where it’s most impactful is probably for kids on top team Sweden Canada United States where they’re going to play in roles that they do not play in junior or on their shl team and they’re going to play a role that is
More in line with how they’re going to play in the NHL like look at Owen Beck who plays first line Center and Peter bur Nate Danielson who plays first line Center and Brandon and soon to be somewhere not Brandon so those guys aren’t going to be first line Center in
The NHL so you get to see them in a role where they’re going to play more of their NHL Style game and for an evaluator it can be very insightful to see kind of where they’re along on the pathway to playing that role and as I mentioned you know Danielson is a guy
Who’s probably going to have to add a little bit more of a physical Edge to his game to do that in the NHL but look at ow Beck and he could slide into an NHL bottom six rooll tomorrow and probably be relatively effective he wins his draws he gets in people’s way he’s
Physical he skates the puck through the neutral zone so a lot of things little things like that you’re trying to see how how are the adapting how does this relate to their NHL projection if it doesn’t work out that’s okay it might raise a few red flags but nothing major
And if it does that’s not going to shift the projection significantly but might accelerate their timeline a little bit yeah I I think from a Calgary perspective uh Dylan dub was in a couple of these uh one he was in a fourth line checking role and the other he was a
Captain on the top line um so it varies obviously year to year and especially at these age groups one year makes a world of difference unless you’re celebrini or Bard or even lafranier a few years ago but yeah you can really see different roles and where these kids kind of uh
Fit in I feel like we we focused a lot on Canada obviously uh but czechia is the the one moving on was was there a player or two that kind of stuck out uh stuck out sorry on on their side of things so Andre Becker WHL player really
Impressive plays with a ton of speed I like his playmaking in particular it’s not so much about riing cross law passes like your Frank nasar it’s more about how he cuts back finds the trailer how he cuts inside slips the puck through the next layer advances the play he’s
Going to be a big big big piece for them like so sapoval live beish and kulick are their top line that’s going to be the line that’s going to earn the reviews but Becker is going to be what wins them if they win gold Becker is
Going to play a big strong game to the inside lots of speed he’s going to be the guy who’s going to help them get there and Edward shalet as well who has had some bad some good this tournament but I think offensively this is the best he’s looked this season he’s showing a
Lot more skill a lot more patience he’s even had a couple net drives which is not bad for a player who historically has shot away from contact so with this czechia team you’re kind of starting to see all the pieces fall together Top Line wasn’t so good today but the rest
Of the lineup really picks it up and now they just need to have both of the now they just need to have both of those worlds going at the same time and they could win it they could take down the United States they really could boy that
That would be quite the story um and look look this was a team that was in the gold medal game a year ago and was about that close from uh from winning it with uh with how things were going so um Kulik was the the one who who got a lot
Of the attention coming in and he got a lot of attention from Beck and Dan I think in particular um not going to be I think a game that he puts on the resume going forward but what did you make from the player who a lot of people
Thought coming in was going to be the standout CIA player so he was still quite good I think the big issue is that he struggled with the puck in transition which historically has been a bit of an issue for him against more physical assertive Defenders so he wasn’t able to
Navigate that but you still saw the defensive ability you still saw a little bit of playmaking from him it was just that he couldn’t really get that shot working uh but you know Team USA has been a little porous a little bit uh uh you know they make their mistakes and
Sweden is prone to some breakdowns too even though they look real smooth doing it so you know I wouldn’t be surprised if he scores three goals down the stretch here yeah he’s a player that a lot of people are quite excited about and uh it’s it’s very intriguing um
There are some people who are are taking uh Delight in the uh the fall of Canada in this one um someone sing it spinorama 29 uh says when Canada loses the world wins and I get there’s a bit of um of trolling and chirping going on but look
Like it is as frustrating as it is for us it’s a whole lot better for this tournament and I think the sport in general when it’s not Canada winning five in a row or three in a row or whatever it shows the the growth of the
Sport and I think that’s really like we get really worked up about this tournament but it is a good kind of litmus test to see how other nations are doing and and a good jumping off point point for places like Germany czechia who’ve had now back-to-back pretty good tournaments um Norway even getting
Involved in things like that and lvia trying to to avoid relegation every year and stuff like that I think overall as frustrating as it is and disappointing for us uh here north of the Border it is I think better for the sport to see that International growth in a lot of Nations
Stepping up in this tournament it’s better for the sport it’s more entertaining the product has never been better hockey wise I mean you got Norway out here these guys came here to crack skulls and make plays like like they weren’t messing around this tournament I
I know they got blown up but like they were physical they were trying stuff like they had their bottom pairing defenseman are like ripping cross ice no look passes to like like they were really trying and I think that’s been the big difference over the last few
Years is that now not only are not only is the the the difference in Talent shrinking between these teams but the smaller countries are starting to try to play offensive hockey they’re not just trying to lock it down they’re starting to try to create and the tournament gets
So much better as a result of this like every single game as someone who has watched every single game uh yeah I haven’t slept much every single game has been good even even the blows have been good because everyone comes to play everyone can make plays these days yeah
And like before it was just like lfi well hopefully Rolie makes 57 saves and we kick one into the net and that that’s how we’re going to win this game but no were going right at him and sometimes it does lead to 10 nothing Canada over lvia
But I love even though it felt a little excessive that lvia coach calling a timeout down 10 nothing like look this is what like we’re trying to learn from this we are playing a full 60 Minutes do not get do not like no hanging heads nothing that they came right at them and
I I do really appreciate that it does feel like the sport is moving in a good direction and I think Canada hopefully uses this as a bit of a wakeup call as that the quarterfinals are not usually the last stopping point for this country so hopefully there’s a bit of a wake up
Here that some more high-end Talent is going to be necessary um all right Mitch this was a ton of fun thank you so much uh for for chat I could do this all day but um you have another like five games to watch this tournament so we we’ll let
You go um if people want to to find you where can they find your work you can head to EP ringside.com we’ll have lots of good tournament coverage we just recently posted an article on Stan soberg who has been an absolute Menace this tournament he’s an interesting Norwegian draft eligible Prospect JD
Burke has the story about how he found hockey in Norway and it is a fantastic read with some rather hilarious quotes it’s worth checking out and you can also follow me at Mitch lbrown on twitter.com you can find me on uh Twitter and Instagram as well uh Prime
Time Klein uh I’m the host of game over Calgary I’ll be back on tonight um so if you thought man like this guy’s International takes are fun can’t wait to hear what he has to say about the Minnesota Wild uh you can check me out as Calgary takes on the Wild tonight um
That one is going to be right here on sdpn we got a bunch of uh great game over hosts across the country for every Canadian team so subscribe to stpn Here on YouTube like the video share this with your friends misery loves company um so why not let a whole lot of other
People know what exactly happened for the downfall of Canada at least for this year at the world juniors uh that is going to do it um thank you guys so much for tuning in and maybe not internationally but we will talk to all of you again later have a good rest of
Your morning everybody game over
1 Comment
I love the positivity you spread in your videos.