It’s the most wondrous time of the year for prospect watchers. In Ottawa, the best players from ten nations aged 20 and under have gathered to compete for gold and country in the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship. The tournament kicks off today and runs through January 5th when the gold, silver, and bronze medals will be awarded. The United States took the honors last season and look to go back-to-back for the first time. Canada is hoping to recover from a disastrous quarter-final elimination last year to regain their rightful (in their eyes) perch on top.
If you’re a Tampa Bay Lightning fan then your rooting interest is split among two teams. First up is Team Canada, where Ethan Gauthier will be skating as one of The True North’s 14 forwards. Meanwhile, recent draft pick Joona Saarelainen will be centering one of Team Finland’s four lines. Both teams, along with Team USA, have been clumped together in Group A, but the good news is that four out of the five teams in the group advance to the quarterfinals.
With a stacked Team Canada roster, Ethan Gauthier, our 5th-ranked prospect, wasn’t guaranteed a spot on the team this year, but he impressed coaches enough at the pre-tournament camps to earn an invitation. This will be the first time the 19-year-old from Phoenix (yes, he has dual citizenship) will don the red maple leaf on his chest. As the assistant captain for the Drummondville Voltigeurs, Gauthier is putting together another strong season with 13 goals and 22 assists in 24 games.
However, it’s likely his defensive prowess that helped him make the team, especially since he’ll likely be on the third or fourth line. Team Canada seems to have leaned toward more responsible players instead of all-gas, no-brake players they’ve sent to this tournament in the past. Of course, they are selecting from an embarrassment of riches as 21 of their 25 players have already been drafted. The other four players (Matthew Schaefer, Porter Malone, Gavin McKenna, and goaltender Jack Ivankovic) haven’t been drafted simply because they haven’t been eligible yet. Expect their names to be called this summer.
The 18-year-old Saarelainen is participating at his first U20 World Championships after several appearances on the U18 squad. He has a healthy international resume with 48 points (29 goals, 18 assists) in 57 games for The Little Lions. Currently playing professionally in Finland, Saarelainen has split time with KalPa’s U20 team (10 games, 10 goals, 3 assists) and their Liiga squad (14 games, 2 goals, 2 assists).
The fifth-round pick was ranked 19th in our Top 25 Under 25 this summer and is a good skater that relies on a relentless on-ice motor to make the most of his skills. His profile matches pretty well with all of the players on Finland’s team. There is a lot of skill, but not much in the way of superstar potential. It’ll be an uphill battle for them to go deep in this tournament.
It won’t take long for Lightning fans to see both of their prospects in action as Finland takes on Canada at 7:30 PM tonight. They also play on Friday as Finland faces Germany at 5:30 and Canada takes on Latvia at 7:30. They play on the same day again on December 29th when Finland takes on the US and Canada faces off against Germany. Their final games of the group stage take place on New Year’s Eve with Finland playing a Latvian team that could be fighting to avoid relegation at 2:30. Canada takes on their rivals, the Americans, at 8:00 PM in the opening round’s marquee match-up.
There is a lot of prospect hockey taking place over the next two weeks, and you can catch it on the NHL Network in the United States. We’ll have the highlights here at Raw Charge, so stay tuned!
