The United States of Hockey

It’s not where they want to be, but it’s where they are. The U.S. faces a game it never thought it’d be playing in, but Latvia awaits as a relegation-round opponent. A win today sets up a seventh-place game against Switzerland Wednesday, and guarantees the U.S. cannot be relegated to Division 1A.

Jack Campbell will start against Latvia (Photo: Dave Arnold)

Latvia has yet to win at the World Junior Championship, but as we’ve found in this tournament, no game can be taken for granted. Latvia has some good skill up front, that will at least keep the American defense honest.

Team USA has to be sharp against its Latvian opponent and skate away with a win and a chance to close out the tournament strong. With two games left to play, the U.S. has a chance to get back to .500 for the tournament. Despite missing the medal round, the U.S. can at least close out the tournament with some amount of pride.

Coming up after the jump, a look at the USA-Latvia matchup, a World Junior update and the latest on the U.S. National Under-17 Team at the 2012 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

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First off, Happy New Year, everybody! Thanks for making 2011 such a fun year on United States of Hockey. Hopefully it’ll be even better in 2012. Now let’s get to some analysis.

Photo: Dave Arnold

Maybe it’s a good thing 2011 is over for the U.S. National Junior Team, but it couldn’t have ended on a more sour note.

It was too little, too late for Team USA as it fell 3-2 to Canada, despite a third-period comeback bid. Turns out, that third period may have been Team USA’s best period of the tournament, but it came well after there was anything to play for.

In that third period, Team USA gave its fans a glimpse of what could have been. A furious forecheck, bodies in front of the net, creating chances in tight and a pair of goals showed what the team was capable of. It took 12 periods to get there.

The U.S. will now meet Latvia on Jan. 3 and Switzerland on Jan. 4 in the relegation round. Team USA can finish no higher than seventh place. To provide some context, the U.S. has finished lower than sixth place only four times since 1977 and not since 1999. There were far less talented teams that fared far better than this edition of the U.S. National Junior Team.

Coming up after the jump, a brief look at USA-Canada. Also, a look into why it is not yet time to panic for USA Hockey.

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It’s been a long time since a game between the United States and Canada meant so little. This was supposed to be a game that meant everything. Tickets were going for hundreds and some for thousands of dollars before the tournament started. After losing its last two games and Finland defeating Denmark in regulation Friday night, the U.S. is officially headed to the relegation round regardless of result tonight.

USA plays for pride tonight after losing to Czechs (Photo: Dave Arnold)

The shock likely hasn’t worn off for the players and staff. Still, there’s hockey to be played and tonight’s contest offers the U.S. its biggest rival. For Team USA, this game may not have much meaning in the standings, but it is the last significant game the U.S. will play. With two relegation-round games ahead, and Denmark facing a near impossible task of avoiding getting sent down to Division 1A, there’s not a whole lot to get excited about for the American players.

USA-Canada is always a spirited match-up. There is a genuine disdain for each other on both sides of this game. Canada will be looking to head into the medal round on a high note, while also hoping to pile on to Team USA’s already humiliating preliminary round. The U.S. look to take something positive out of the World Junior championship. In the end, this is Team USA’s championship game.

Coming up after the jump, a look at USA-Canada.

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Welp. If you’re a Team USA fan, your heart is a little heavy right now. The U.S. National Junior Team lost another shocker, this time to the Czech Republic, 5-2. Despite a better effort than it showed against Finland, the U.S. now faces the stunning reality that it likely has to play in the relegation round, as opposed to competing for a medal.

The only way the U.S. can get to the medal round is with two Finland losses or a Finland OT win and loss, combined with a U.S. win over Canada. If Finland defeats Denmark in regulation tonight, as anyone who’s been watching expects they will (as of this writing it’s 3-0 Finland), Team USA’s fate will be decided. Relegation round bound.

Coming up after the jump, a look at what happened and what this loss means overall.

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Adversity. Every team faces it in some form or another. The teams that handle that adversity tend to have success. The 4-1 loss to Finland Wednesday puts the U.S. in a situation in which it has to win at least one of its next two games to advance to the medal round. The U.S. gets a chance today against a feisty Team Czech Republic at 3:30 p.m. EST.

Photo: Dave Arnold

The Czechs and Americans are both 1-0-0-1, so there’s a lot on the line in this game. The Czech Republic is coming off a 5-0 loss at the hands of the Canadians, despite a valiant effort in net from goaltender Petr Mrazek. With a good goaltender and pretty decent skill throughout the lineup, the Czechs may not be at the same level of Finland, but they’re not far off.

The U.S. has to be sure not to take this very capable opponent lightly or get caught looking ahead to Canada. With so much on the line, I wouldn’t anticipate Team USA sleeping on its third preliminary-round opponent, especially coming off of a stunning loss. If the U.S. isn’t playing with a bit of an edge in today’s contest, then it’s a concern, but I don’t see that happening.

A full preview of USA-Czech Republic continues after the jump.

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There’s plenty to be taken away from Team USA’s 4-1 loss to Finland. The U.S. got Finland’s best game as expected and didn’t respond with enough to react to that. Now, the U.S. National Junior Team faces a more difficult path if it hopes to make it to the medal round.

Sami Aittokallio came up big for Finland. (Photo: Dave Arnold)

Team USA’s Friday afternoon contest against the Czech Republic is about to as close to a must-win as it gets after today’s loss.

Finland had a terrific game plan coming into the game and got great goaltending from Sami Aittokallio and certainly earned that win. However, the U.S. has plenty to point to as reasons it lost this hockey game. All that and more after the jump…

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Remember those games played on Monday? Throw them out the window. The U.S. and Finland were on opposite ends of lopsided affairs on the World Junior Championship’s opening day.

USA Hopes to build off Denmark win (Photo: Dave Arnold)

Finland is not as poor as it played against Canada in an 8-1 loss, and the U.S., if you can believe it, wasn’t at their best in an 11-3 win against Denmark. Essentially, neither game told us a great deal about either team. They both come in with a clean slate for this 3:30 p.m. EST contest.

Finland should come out fired up in a game that’s pretty close to a must-win. Team USA has to come into the game prepared for a fight and a much more skilled opponent than the one it faced in Denmark.

Coming up after the jump, a complete rundown of Team USA’s second preliminary round game of the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship.

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It seems every year there is a discussion that occurs among some hockey fans in which the initial question asked is, “What’s the point of the World Juniors?” It’s a question that is sometimes difficult to answer as the significance of the World Junior Championship is multi-layered.

As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, the WJC is a huge deal in Canada. The phrases religion, rite of passage and birthright are often thrown around with reckless abandon. However, while there may be less significance for fans outside of Canada, the World Juniors is a big deal for every international federation that produces elite players, the NHL teams that have prospects participating and the players themselves.

Find out more about the somewhat unknown significance of this tournament after the jump.

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