In this edition of the hotstove we share our picks to win Gold at this year's World Junior tournament.
Todd Cordell
I know it's boring, but it's pretty hard to go against Team Canada; especially after they lit up the tournament's best goaltender and dominated a very good Russian team in their opener.
I think Mathew Barzal will be the best player in the tournament and, led by Philippe Myers and Thomas Chabot, their defense looks pretty good too. If Carter Hart holds up I think this is Canada's tournament to lose.
My second choice would be Sweden. Their blue line is really deep and 2000-born Rasmus Dahlin brings game-breaking ability to the back end. Headlined by Alex Nylander and Joel Eriksson Ek they have a very potent forward group and Felix Sandstrom possesses the ability to steal games in goal. If anyone is taking Canada out, I think it's Sweden.
James Tanner For the same reason that international hockey isn't very interesting, the winner will be Canada barring a massive upset.
They have the deepest pool to draw from, they have the best players and they almost always win unless something goes horribly wrong.
In order to make it more interesting, I have wagered my rent money on Latvia. Let's go Rudolf Balcers!
Peter Tessier
Well after yesterday the Rah-Rah Canadian fans are all doubling down on how great their country is at hockey. They beat the Russians, they'll win gold. Well they might but it might not be so easy either.
I'm a bit of a skeptic to the whole tournament right now. It's not that the hockey isn't unto watch it's the constant over-analysis and hype that TSN brings with it each year. Sorry guys you lost out on the NHL rights, now don't ruin something you were very good at. (rant over)
Basically I think any one team of Canada, Russia or Sweden could win and what happens with one game tournaments is a team surprises. Canada is not the only team that can learn from games in the round robin series. Expect others to get strong and adapt too. Nothing here is a lock.
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