IIHF U20 Championship 2019 -Review

2016      This tournament was played in Finland and Finland won for their 4th Championship. We got to Watch Austin Mathews and the USA. The USA won Bronze when they demolished Sweden 8-3.

2017   This tournament was held in Montreal and Toronto. The USA not only medaled but the won Gold. This was their 4th Championship. The Team was led by Boston College goal poaching Collin White and 3 BU players in the ultra fast Clayton Keller, the giant and durable Jordan Greenway and the fast skating Defenseman Charlie McAvoy.

2018     This tournamnet was held in Buffalo, USA. There was high hope the USA would win on home ice. The USA lost in the semi-finals then crushed Check Rep 9-3 for 3 medal in a row. The MVP was  Casey Mittelstadt.


Review
2019  This tournament was again held in Canada, this time in Vancouver. The USA has the potential #1 pick in Jack Huges and there was plenty of excitement. The USA had medaled in the last 2 tournamnets. They had the potential to win in 2018 but lost in the Sei-finals and walloped Check Rep in the consolation game. They all knew this year theywanted to stay at the top of their group to avoid a fisrt round game against one of the top 5 nations. They accomplished this by placing second behind Sweden, thus avoiding Both Mighty Russia and the host -Canada.

Knockout rounds
The USA had to face their nemesis, Russia in the semi-finals. Russia was undefeated but the Americans have gained confidence against their Eastern nemesis. You see after losing so many year to the Bears the USA has beaten Russsian in the 2017 and 2018 knockout rounds. Team USA finally has found the cure to beat the Bears from Russia. They beat Russia 2-1 in the semi-finals. Confidence was sky high with this victory. The USA has now beated Russia 3 years in a row in the knockout rounds and they would face Surprise Finland, a team they already beat in the group stage. They lost in the finals to a fast skating Finland team 3-2 in the closing seconds of the game.


 So the USA won silver and their 4th medal in a row. 2016,2017,2018 and 2019.

• MVP:  Ryan Poehling was awarded the MVP. After being very disappointed with the lost in the final as a fan, looking back i guess i am happy. First I am happy to see the Americans have just as good skaters as the European counterparts. The USA also plays a very disiplin defensive responsible game, which is hard to teach young kids. Second, we have beated Russia in the knock out rounds again. Third is that the MVP wasnt JAck Hughes but another American Ryan Poehling. 

This tournament has to be considered another success for USA hockey. I was down after they lost however, as you can see, the USA has one of the best junior programs and continue to produce quality players who can compete with the top nations of the World.

Next turnament:

2020- This tournament was awarded to Czech Republic. It has been 12 years since the last time Czech has hosted this populat tournament. Thats the good news. The bad news for the host is the group the host have to face. This is murders row with Canada, Russia and the States. Germany will be the new nation to join the top Junior tournament after they went undefeated in Division 1 tournament in Poland in 2019. Welcome Germany. 

All the European players and families are happy for the Junior tournament to return to Europe after 3 years straight in North America. Here is hoping for a great tournament and exciting tournament.