On Frozen Blog

For the fourth consecutive year, Canada’s Under-20s claimed gold at the World Junior Championships. Two of them — Karl Alzner and Josh Godfrey — are Caps’ prospects. Ten players from Canada’s roster this year will be eligible for the next WJC, to be contested this December on Canadian soil.
Godfrey finished third in scoring among all defensemen with 5 points (all assists). Alzner had a goal and an assist in his seven games. Both blueliners finished a +2.
Canada’s Steve Mason was named not only the tournament’s best goalie — a .951 save percentage will often fetch that — but the Most Valuable Player as well. He’ll return to North America today to a new home, too: on Friday he was dealt by the London Knights to the Kitchener Rangers. Michal Neuvirth of the Czech Republic, also Caps’ property, had the 4th-best save percentage (.910); he stopped 101 of the 111 shots he faced, and four that got by him came on the oppositions’ power play.
American James vanRiemsdyk led all scorers in the tourney with 11 points. Teammate Colin Wilson also finished in the top 10 in scoring, with 7 points. But as feared heading in, American goaltending wasn’t elite. Jeremy Smith played well in the preliminary round but less so when it was most needed. Neither American goalie finished with a .900 save percentage.
A lot of attention heading into the tourney was directed at the Czech Republic’s Jacub Voracek, who was obliterating the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League this season (50 pts. in 25 games) in Halifax. But Voracek managed to finish just 29th in scoring and wasn’t even identified as one of his team’s three best players by the tournament’s coaches.