A Look Back at the 2007 WJHC Part 1

[The Comish]

In December of 2006, while living in Oslo, Norway, I made the eight hour trek to Leksand, Sweden to watch the World Junior Hockey Championship. Now with the time of year being the dead of winter, that could have been a foolhardy journey, but I came equipped with an all-wheel drive Volvo, a super set of winter treads and an incredibly strong desire to take in what I consider the best tournament going.

I had rented a cottage 15 minutes from Leksand by car and purchased tickets online to all the Team Canada games, along with USA vs SWE, both semi-finals and medal games. The per game ticket prices were insanely cheap, ranging from the mid-twenties to 40 dollars for the medal games. For nearly every game, the seats were 10-12 rows up between centre and the blueline. The seats were awesome and I don't even remember paying for parking!

The only real negative was that the cottage had no cable television (imagine no TSN!) and limited internet capability, so finding out information on the tournament had to be done in person at the arenas.

Back on point. This write up was meant to be a bit of a look back and a where are they now piece. This Christmas season it will have been four years since that tournament.

The only player of note on Belarus was Sergei Kostitsyn who led his team with five points in six games while serving 33 minutes in penalties! I never took in any Belarus games, so I won't comment further, other than to say the younger Kostitsyn wore out his welcome in Montreal and is trying to earn a spot in Nashville as a regular. He has played in 165 NHL games and recorded 71 points. He has the talent to play in the big leagues, but can he find the head and heart on a consistent basis?

The leading scorer for Slovakia was Juraj Mikus who had six points in as many games. He scored 71 points in 60 QMJHL games, then played two seasons in Slovakia's top league recording 133 points in 110 games. Mikus then tried the AHL on for size and had 13 points in 56 games. He's now playing in the KHL where he has three points in 17 contests.

The leading scorer on Switzerland was Juraj Simek. He had four goals and five points in six games. Following the tournament, Simek finished his one season of Canadian Major Junior hockey with 57 points in 58 games in the WHL. He then logged seasons of 17, 22 and 36 point AHL seasons. This year, he has seven points in 11 AHL games.

One other Swiss player that has a decent shot at the NHL is defenseman Yannick Weber who had four points in six games. Weber scored 55 points in 59 OHL games and recorded 76 points over two AHL seasons (133 games). This year, he has 11 points in 12 AHL games for Montreal's AHL affiliate Hamilton.

I watched Germany play only once and it was a tough one against Canada. The Germans played it rough and tough, losing a respectable 3-1 to the eventual gold medal Canadians.

One player who stood out in the game I saw was Felix Schutz. He led the team in scoring with eight points in six games. He was drafted by Buffalo, played 110 games in the QMJHL, notching 96 points. Schutz then scored 42 points in 78 AHL games, played in the World Championship for Germany and had four points in nine games. He then had a poor showing last year in the AHL with only 27 points in 67 games. He's now back in the DEL in Germany and has three points in five games. It's unlikely that he'll be back in the near future.

The other player who made strides for Germany was Philip Gogulla, who recorded six assists in as many games and was second in team scoring. He went on to play three seasons in Germany's top professional league, logging seasons of 21, 44 and 38 points respectively. Last year he played in the AHL and had 35 points in 76 games. Gogulla is property of Buffalo (they sure like those German players!) who took him in the second round (48 overall) in 2005. Gogulla is currently playing in Germany where he leads his team in scoring with 21 points in 19 games (14th overall).

Still to come:
Part Two - Czech Republic and Finland
Part Three - USA
Part Four - Sweden and Russia
Part Five - Canada

[Dean Youngblood]

Great piece. I look forward to the other segments

It's cool to look back especially 4 years later - a lot of these guys who were drafted in the NHL and played immediately after are entering their 4th year breakout

[Briarpatch00]

Ditto, really cool piece