World Junior Championship 2021 Team USA Final Roster

Posted by james ctester on December 13th, 2020

The World Junior Championship ended in heartbreak for Hockey Team USA.

Kleven will be one to see; he has faced criticisms after his top draft standing, especially with increased lively prospects still readily available, but so far he has been a major player for UND as a freshman that season. In three games, the 6-foot-4 rear guard has been a dominating physical presence, but also shown surprising power across the net, scoring his first NCAA goal in his third game. He was left off the American's preliminary roster afterwards attending the October Assessment Camp, therefore he likely will likely be needing to establish himself on the world stage.

Dustin Wolf additionally returns and also the Americans couldn't ask for a better backup. The 2020 CHL Goaltender of the Season awoke the Western Hockey League (WHL) with all the Everett Silvertips, submitting equally the league's greatest GAA and SVpercent for its 2nd season in a row. Even though he wont get a lot of ice time he just played once last year, against Germany -- he'll be depended on to give Knight a break or two to help keep him rested to the playoffs. Together, they offer the Americans one of their most powerful creases of almost any nation in 2021.

This is going to be a very hard team to stop from scoring. Fans already have seen the dominance shown by Zegras and Kaliyev at last season's tournament, and now they return with greater experience and evolution under their belts, ready to control their rivalry. Zegras spent some time training with all the Eisbären Berlin of this Deutsches Eishockey League in Germany, and he never seemed in a game, he will have very little rust to shake off come time for you to drop the puck. The rest of the top nine is just as dangerous and might develop into a real problem for other teams in Pool B to contain.

Bottom Line

Also well worth keeping an eye on will be fellow newcomers Brock Faber and Jake Sanderson. Both 2020 selections and United States National Development Program students that the pair is likely to make the Americans very hard to play against. Faber may not the main guy, but his intelligence is quite high and also he overcomes any size gaps together with it. Sanderson, on the flip side, could come out of camp as one of the best defenders for the USA. He's equipped to play enormous minutes despite his era, and his offense is still strong, too -- in three games with UND in 2013 , he has a goal and 2 assists.

Ryan Johnson are also looked to lead the young center. He had been a late cut from last year's team and you will be looking to earn a significant impact this year. He is a superb competitor and team player, and while maybe not the flashiest defender, he often strives to make him better. To date this year, he's suited to six games using the University of Minnesota, where he's listed four assists, resulting in the team's defense in points. Both he and York were first-round picks in the 20-19 NHL Draft. After piecing together a remarkable run of four medals in successive championships, including a gold in 20 17 and a silver at 2019, the Americans entered the 2020 matches with firearms. After a challenging Game 1 loss to Canada, they won all of the next round-robin games, then placing them second in the pool and also slotted to manage Finland in the opening round of the playoffs.

Still another one to watch is 17-year-old Matthew Beniers. He's one of the elderly 2021-eligible draft prospects, but that does not change the fact that the Americans seldom take heed players into this tournament unless they are work-related abilities. Spencer Knight and Jack Hughes are a number of the few to play Team USA ahead of being hammered. In eight matches that season, Beniers already has three goals and six things together with the University of Michigan. He is also among the biggest forward on earth, standing 6-foot-1, and could find himself onto a top-six unit when he develops the perfect chemistry together with one of the five coming players.

The American's top-six will probably soon be incredibly dangerous. Zegras was the assist leader at the 2020 World Juniors, as well as the very best point-getter for the Americans, finishing with nine games. Kaliyev was not too much , directing the team with four goals and finishing with six points. Caufield just had two points this past year, but far leads the NCAA with 12 points in 10 games this season and remains perhaps one of the very dynamic American prospects.

Brendan Brisson along with Sam Colangelo can become a reliable secondary grading pair. The two awakened the USHL last season, combining for 52 goals and 117 things using the Chicago Steel. It turned Brisson in to the 20 20 NHL draft's first round, where he had been selected with the Vegas Golden Knights 29th complete, also Colangelo was not much behind, moving into the Anaheim Ducks seven picks later in the next circular. However, if they are given the opportunity, they can shine in the World Juniors Live Stream.

Forwards

He had been the second goalie selected at the 2020 Draft, shot at the next round by the Chicago Blackhawks. But on Dec. 3, Boston University paused all baseball programs following an optimistic COVID-19 evaluation, that forced Commesso to step out of their planet Juniors. In his place, Team USA earned Logan Stein, who'd been the fourth largest goalie at the October Assessment Camp. Even the 2001-born goalie is now undrafted, but needed a pretty good campaign annually with the Waterloo Black Hawks and now could be with Ferris State U.

Team USA is going to be rolling together with almost a totally new defense corps at the 2021 championship game. Cam York will be the only returning member by the 2020 team that finished sixth, also certainly will be eager to help improve his team's finish. He is a highly skilled defenseman, and afterwards eight games with the University of Michiganhe leads the defense with 2 goals and five points. Even though he went pointless in this past year's championship, he will be expected to be an impact player on the blueline for the team from 2021.

However, size may eventually become a concern for the Americans, particularly if they're going up against Russia or face Canada from the playoffs. Their biggest forward -- Kaliyev,'' Colangelo, also Boldy -- stand only 6-foot-2 and might have a challenging time against the kind of Vasili Podkolzin, Kirby Dach, or Quinton Byfield, all 6-foot-4 and 200 lbs.
for cuts, much like the defense, no exemptions were that unexpected. Thomas Bordeleau, who's been with an unbelievable start to his college career this season with 10 points in eight matches, was the greatest name left from the final roster (aside from Robertson or Beecher), but it's likely his size held back him again. The forwards happen to be on the more compact size, however adding another 5-foot-9 player may possibly have put that the Americans at a steep disadvantage against greater teams at the tournament.

'' there weren't any surprises from the goalies for team USA. Knight returns for his next tournament as the obvious newcomer thanks to his experience and striking numbers this past year. In four games, the Boston College star and Florida Panthers' 2019 first-round pick finished with a 0.913 save percentage (SV%) and also a 2.49 goals against average (GAA), despite the two games.

Defense

However, one player that wont be returning would be Nick Robertson. His participation was contingent on when the NHL season started, also with training camps set to open early January, he'll be required by the Toronto Maple Leafs. John Beecher also will not reunite after having fun with the team from 2020, although many speculated it could have been because of his suspension from last year to get a boarding violation, it was he had been another casualty of the virus, even receiving a positive test results in the eleventh hour before final cuts.

That weight reduction will probably undoubtedly be weighing heavily on the American team this past year. With the most experience of any crew at the World Juniors, they will certainly be happy to prove that past season was an outlier. Once again, they'll have a roster filled filled with some of their NHL's greatest prospects and feature several unheralded faculty stars that are bound to find their stock rise. This team is likely to be a medal favourite once again, with different players to watch as the tournament progresses.
However, after 44 long, 44 moments, it had been Finland who finally broke throughout American goalie Spencer Knight, and also the Finns held on to their lead to send the Americans dwelling early. Just like that, the longest active decoration series has been broken, and the Americans were forced to return in square one for 2021.

Goalies

But, the shield has also taken a winner after Boston University stopped their hockey operations, as they lost behemoth Alex Vlasic out of their own defense. The 6-foot-6 defender was a lock to the World Junior team and could have been certainly one of many more feared shut-down defensemen at the tournament. His presence will be substituted by both Tyler Kleven from the University of North Dakota (UND), and Hunter Skinner, who last played with the Ontario Hockey League's London Knights, but has not suited to get a match in 2020-21 yet.

The defense did not have a lot of surprise reductions apart from Vlasic, however, the omission of both Jayden Struble around the preliminary roster was somewhat unexpected. But, Team USA likely wanted a far more defensive shield, leading them to take two-way players like Henry Thrun,'' Jackson LaCombe, also Drew Helleson over Struble.

However, with a lot of the hockey world transitioning to a smaller, faster game, the Americans should have the bonus that this past year. Their skill is unquestionable, and though they have been lacking a few experience when compared to their biggest rivalry from the rival Pool A, people coming players possess a large chip on the shoulder out of last year's frustrating loss to Finland. This match is a enormous incentive for Team USA this year and they'll be determined not to replicate that embarrassment. This is a team that is prepared to compete and are nearly guaranteed a shot at a trophy in 2021.

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