WHC (First Blush)
By Lowetide
12 years ago
There are all kinds of things worth talking about at the World Hockey Championships. Some items are predictable ("Jordan Eberle is among the top 10 scorers") and some are shockers ("so is Robert Nilsson!") and many of the themes are of great interest to Oiler fans.
- Nilsson Schmilsson: Holy cow! Robert Nilsson (2gp, 0-4-4 +3) is tied for 4th in overall scoring. Nilsson is playing 19 minutes a night and making it count. I can see him getting another NHL shot if he wants it. Hey, hire Robert and you might get Kenta to scout for you.
- Adam’s Rib: Adam Larsson didn’t make team Sweden. The only kids on blue that made it for Sweden were Oliver Ekman Larsson and Tim Erixon. The club boasts 35-year old David Petrasek, who has played 745 SEL games over many seasons but only 2 WHC games. Interesting.
- Pääjärvi’s Progress: MP has played 2 games (1-1-2 +1) and looks like he’s playing top 6 minutes so far this series. I haven’t seen Sweden yet but there’s some talent on this team. If MP gets minutes with someone like Loui Eriksson I’d love to see it.
- Fasth lane: Viktor Fasth has played in 1 game and stopped 23 shots for the shutout. I think the Oilers might try to grab a Euro goalie like Fasth for the NHL/AHL 4-goalie tandem next season.
- Crossing Jordan: How good is Jordan Eberle? Talk about a plug and play rookie, this guy has 3 goals in 3 games and is impressing in yet another international tournament. How long before we can start talking about Eberle’s international play in historic terms? Beauty player.
- Conklin Midway: Ty Conklin is the USA backup goalie. Don’t play him in game 1!
Miles and miles to go, but plenty of stories already from the World Hockey Championships. Canada is playing well enough but it’s early and the challenges are still ahead for them. Attendance is interesting, Canada currently is the 9th most attractive team to watch according to the locals based on these numbers.
Canada is at the top of their table (8 points) followed by Switzerland (6), France (3) and Belarus (1). It’s been a crazy WHC’s so far, with only Denmark and Austria with zero points at this stage of the preliminary round. A good guess would have Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Russia, USA, Sweden, the Czechs and Finns advancing. No real surprise there, but inside the names are some huge items (Germany is unbeaten, France won a game).
It’s still early, but I suspect this one will be worth watching.
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