A lot of teams have a lot of prospects at this year's World Juniors, but arguably no team has two more impactful players than the Ottawa Senators.
The Sens two top prospects will square off in tonight's Gold Medal game in Montreal, with both Thomas Chabot and Colin White being arguably their respective country's top player. Each was named one of the three best players of their team on Wednesday, and there is a pretty good chance that both will be named to the tournament ending all-star team and Chabot will most likely be named the top defenseman for the event.
One of them will come away with gold, and the other will nab a silver. Both of them will return to their respective teams (Saint John and Boston College) greater for the experience and one further step ahead in their development. We talked about the development of Curtis Lazar and how it might have been stunted by the decisions the Senators made, and the same could certainly be argued about the way Cody Ceci was brought along as well.
The Senators have to be ecstatic with what they have seen, especially from Chabot. I expected him to be a big contributor but his play has surpassed any expectations and he has been probably the most dominant player in the tournament so far. And that isn't coming from just inside the Senators circle, but pretty much anyone you listen to.
A pair of tremendous semi-final games, filled with drama and intrigue set up this epic showdown, a return matchup from the New Year's Eve tilt. White and Chabot had a handful of intense head to head battles in that game, one that White had the last laugh with his team winning 3-1.
Canada as a team looked a little lost at times in that game as well as the first half of the quarterfinal against the Czech Republic. When they found their game, and became dominant on the cycle they became tough to contain and they carried that over to the semi-final win against Sweden. Hopefully they have their goaltending situation resolved and Carter Hart can come close to duplicating his semi-final relief appearance in the gold medal game.
It should be a classic with two teams that don't like each other, both fast, skilled clubs and it might not be decided in 60 minutes.
I don't know which team will win the game, but I do know that the Senators and their fans are winners already with the prospects they will see tonight. Now we can only hope they get developed properly once they get into the Senators' system and they are moved to the next step only when they are really ready.