The 2016 IHF World Junior Championship promised to be a stage where Leafs prospect William Nylander put on a dominant performance for Team Sweden, but his status for the tournament is now in question after taking a blind side hit in the Swedes 8-3 victory over Switzerland on Saturday.
The 19-year-old Nylander scored Sweden's opening goal on assists from younger brother Alexander and Leafs prospect Dmytro Timashov, but at 15:37 of the first period, the AHL leading scorer was hit by Swiss forward Chris Egli as he turned to head up the ice on an offensive attack.
William Nylander knocked out of the SWE-SUI game in the first period by an open ice hit. #Leafs pic.twitter.com/85eYBemxvi
— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) December 26, 2015Egli's contact was high on the 2014 top pick, but the principal point of contact appears to be the right shoulder and not the head area. Nylander was at top speed coming out of a turn and was sent spinning by the hit, which may have caused a whiplash effect.
"I don't know what the guy was thinking." said Alexander Nylander after the game. "He clearly saw that William didn't see him. Really dirty."
Sweden team doctor Sofia Sunnerud indicated that Nylander was sent to a nearby hospital,had rejoined the team and was feeling good "under the circumstances" , but would not confirm whether he was concussed or his future status.
Dmytro Timashov is gonna be really good pic.twitter.com/mG8VYdlk4y
— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) December 26, 2015Timashov picked up the slack for Sweden after Nylander's departure, scoring power play goals late in the first and early in the second to extend their lead to 4-1. The Leafs 125th overall pick was named Sweden's Player of the Game.
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