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Canada's Troy Stecher will be the lone Canuck to play for a medal at Worlds |
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And then there was one...
Following the lead of the unpredictable NHL playoffs, all three defending medalists at the World Championship were eliminated in Thursday's quarterfinal games in Slovakia.
Thatcher Demko's Instagram Story already shows him on a beach in Mykonos after Team USA was ousted by the powerhouse Russians in the early game here in Bratislava. All things considered, the Americans played a pretty good game. Russia came out strong and built a 2-0 first-period lead, but the Americans stuck with it right till the end, ultimately falling by a score of 4-3.
After being healthy scratched against Team Canada, Jack Hughes was named Team USA's best player, recording two assists on terrific setups, and was buzzing throughout the night. Coach Jeff Blashill called Jack a "superstar" for his ability to create against some of the best forwards in the world on Team Russia, and Patrick Kane also complimented his playmaking.
You can read more on Jack and Team USA, also including some quotes from Quinn, in my article here:
I asked Quinn how he felt about taking on a bigger role with Team USA, compared to his learning experience last year.
"It was just different," he said. "I feel more comfortable and I thought as a whole I played better. Yeah, it was good but I haven't really digested everything that happened yet. I'm sure in the next couple of days I'll think about how the tournament went and what I'm going to do in the next couple of weeks."
Quinn also praised Patrick Kane's leadership and said he enjoyed getting a chance to suit up with players like Zach Werenski, who he hadn't played with before. "It's always cool to meet guys across the league like that. I mean, it's cool to meet guys and learn from them and get to know guys. That's the fun part about this tournament."
I expect we'll see Quinn back in Vancouver in a few weeks' time, supporting Jack at the draft.
While the Russians were advancing in Bratislava, Canada was crafting a crazy comeback story in Kosice. After trailing against Switzerland for nearly the entire game, the Canadians forced overtime when Damon Severson threaded through a slapper from the blue line with just four-tenths of a second left in the third period, then Mark Stone delivered another clutch goal for the win in 3-on-3 overtime.
Canada will now make its fifth-straight semifinal appearance at this tournament, and try to get back on the podium after dropping a one-goal decision to the Swiss last year.
With Canada chasing offense throughout the game, Troy Stecher saw his ice time dwindle as time went on. He finished with a team-low 7:21, including just 55 seconds in the third period. But he's the one Canucks player who's still alive and playing into the weekend, and could end up back in Vancouver next week with a medal.
In the late quarterfinal game here in Bratislava, Germany hung with the Czech Republic for two periods before getting blown out in the third and the Czechs ultimately advanced with a 5-1 win. As I kept an eye on the score of the game in Kosice, it looked like Sweden had things in hand against the no-name Finnish team but by the time our player interviews had wrapped up, it was indeed the Finns that had advanced - tying the game 4-4 with 1:29 left to play in regulation, then scoring the winner at 1:37 of overtime.
Elias Pettersson played 18:32 for Sweden, and was at his dekey best when picked up his third goal of the tournament to put the Swedes ahead 3-1 early in the second period.
For a bit of a peek behind the scenes of Petey's last day in Slovakia, check out this blog post, following his brother and some friends as they supported him.
Loui Eriksson, sigh, had no shots in 16:51 of ice time on Thursday. He finished with a minus-three. He was on the ice for Finland's game-tying and winning goals, as well as their second goal of the game.
Jacob Markstrom served as backup to Henrik Lundqvist, so he finished the tournament with eight goals allowed in two games played - most of them in that inconsequential blowout against Russia which wrapped up the round robin.
So, the semifinal matchups are set. The sneaky-good Finns will take their crack at upsetting the Russian All-Star team in the early game, then Canada will face the Czechs in front of a rowdy crowd full of jumping, chanting fans in the second semifinal at 10:15 a.m. PT on Saturday. Take note, that's one hour earlier than the schedule for the round-robin games.
Two more days of Worlds, then the Stanley Cup Final kicks off on Monday in Boston. Who ya got?
I'll leave it there for now, except to mention that the other big Canucks news this week was Daniel & Henrik Sedin's induction into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame on Thursday night back in Vancouver.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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