2017 World Juniors Report (Day 6)
The round robin is over as the final day of the first round of the World Juniors finished with most teams know where they were headed when the playoffs began.
For some, there was little they could do to change their fate as they had already sealed it heading into the sixth day.
The Finns and the Latvians entered the final day knowing that they would be in relegation while the Swedes knew they were going to finish first in the group.
There was still some things to play for and one was nothing new for the tournament as one of the best rivalries in the tournament took focus for another year.
It has become a bit of a tradition in the Juniors as USA and Canada tend to play big games every year on New Year’s Eve.
December 31st is often reserved for this game and there have been some classic matchups between the two to end the tournament.
The rivalry may only be matched by Sweden-Finland and Canada-Russia as the Americans and Canadians are certainly not too friendly.
The rivalry stems from plenty between the two countries as the neighbours are so close to each other and yet so different.
Hockey proves that as the nations have always been in different spots in their development.
Hockey has been Canada’s sport forever as it is the country’s favourite sport and the one that almost every Canadians plays at one point in their life.
That love of the game has created a dominance in the sport that nobody but the Russians have been able to match.
They are constantly considered the top country in the sport and have the most NHL players from any one country making up just under half of the league.
The Americans never really were a hockey nation for a long time as they concentrated on baseball and football.
The northern states have seen that hockey culture from their neighbours to the north seeps into their own culture.
As the USA continued to grow and their sports culture continued to expand those northern states began to lead the push for hockey.
Hockey may not be a national sport but the Americans are always looking to be the best at everything.
Most of the time they are the best at everything but in hockey, they have yet to reach that point and the Canadians are always there to show them where they want to be.
It isn’t often that Canada can claim to be better than the Americans as the country is large but often falls short of being a power in any sport.
Hockey is the spot where Canadians can claim confidently that they are the best and the Americans can’t do that every year.
That constant fight to be the best in North America in everything leads to the rivalry but when it comes to hockey the rivalry picks up because it is far more even between the two.
In the World Juniors, the rivalry picks up as players from both sides have played against each other in the other tournaments and often in the same leagues.
They enter their games against each other looking for those bragging rights and looking to prove who the best in the continent is in the game.
This year was not a lot different as the Americans and Canadians were looking to stay undefeated and win the group.
It was an important game in the tournament and with the Canadians, in front of the home crowd, the pressure was on for the Canadians.
From the start of the game, it looked like they weren’t ready to deal with the pressure o the game.
The Canadians lacked the energy and thanks to two power play goals early from the USA the Canadians had to play from behind the entire time.
They could never find their way back as the Americans took the game and ended the Canadian’s perfect tournament.
It was a heartbreaking loss for the Canadians but it didn’t end their tournament as they live to play another day hoping to meet the Americans again and take the win next time around.
The game proved just how great a rivalry this can be as the Canadians are not always the best team and the even match between the two only make things better every time they face-off.
The round robin is over and the playoffs are about to start as the focus shifts all to Montreal where the countries left will be looking to get that gold over the next week.
Day 6:
Sweden 5-2 Czech Republic
– There wasn’t a lot to play for in this game but the Swedes still wanted to end their tournament as an undefeated team and they did just that beating the Czechs to earn their fourth win of the tournament
USA 3-1 Canada
– It is the usually the biggest game of the tournament every year and this year was not different as both teams fought for first place in the group with the Americans coming out on top after getting on the Canadians quickly
Finland 2-0 Switzerland
– The Finns were hoping that this was going to be their chance to play out of the relegation round but it wasn’t to be as they took their first win of the tournament but will still need to play in the relegation round to stay in the top tier
Russia 2-0 Slovakia
– Slovakia had a shot to move ahead of the Russians in the group standings but they couldn’t take it even though they gave the Russians a challenge only allowing two goals as the Russians took the win and third place
The Sport Addiction 