Panthers at the World Juniors (2011 Edition)

 Another year has recently passed, and that means another World Junior Tournament has come and gone, and once again ends in disappointment for the Canadians. Though the bright side of the tournament, for the Canadian GM is that 9 of his Panther’s prospects participated, in the tournament including 8 of them in the medal round.  And if the tournament is any indication of the future in Florida, good times are almost here.

 The biggest disappointment of the tournament was Andrej Nestrasil. After being in the regulation round last year, the Czech’s once again disappointed and barely avoided regulation, with no help from Nestrasil. Andrej had an astounding 7 points in 6 games last year, but this year only mustered one goal and 3 points combined in the 6 games.  “We expected better from him as he was much better last year and our hopes were that he could either continue that pace or do even better, but he slumped this year when more was expected from him. We hope that this will give him more of a kick and turn it into high gear for the last part of the QMJHL season.”

 For the next player it was more disappointment for the team than the player. Anton Lander, captain of the Swedish team was on a high, they dominated the preliminaries including a shootout win versus Canada and a shutout versus the Russians. Yet they couldn’t maintain success losing to the Russians and Americans, leaving them medal less. Like Nestrasil, Lander took a drop in production from the previous year, with 8 points last year; Lander could only muster 4 points this time around including only 1 goal compared to the 5 last year. “Even with the drop in points we saw a lot of good things from Lander, he was near the top in faceoff percentage in the tournament and he was strong defensively. He didn’t bring the offensive game but we saw a lot of things we liked from him and feel he is progressing well.”

 The defending champion Americans could not repeat on home soil and neither could a couple of returning Panthers.  Jeremy Morin and Chris Kreider were both on the winning team last year in Saskatoon and both had 7 points last year, but neither could replicate that success.  Jeremy Morin was out for two of the games in the preliminary round after he was injured in the first game, and it didn’t seem like he was a 100% after that and ended the tournament with a measly 1 assist in the 4 games he played.  Kreider on the other hand showed flashes of what he did last year but just couldn’t string together the points, though he put up an impressive two goals in the bronze medal game, winning the Bronze over the Swedes and was the player of the game for the Americans and ended the tournament with 6 points in 6 games.  It was the first trip to the World Juniors though for Brock Nelson who played a checking role in the tournament, though like Morin he was injured in the first game and sat out the next so he had trouble getting things going also. He ended the tournament with 1 assist in 5 games. “It was a disappointing year for our American boys. Last year we had Kreider, Morin and Jenks all play amazing but this time around none of them stood out until the last game by Kreider. Two of them were hampered by injuries but they are all really strong prospects and we expect all them to have strong seconds halves with their respective teams.”

 And now, for a little heartbreak.  The Canadians, always strong favourites in this tournament, had to battle after losing to the Swedes but pushed through and beat a tough Benjamin Conz and flew through the Americans. All seemed well with a 3-0 lead going into the third in the gold medal game, but in an unbelievable comeback, the Russians defeated the Candians 5-3, leaving them with Silver for the second straight year. Though the tournament was a bright spot, for the Panther’s prospects involved, on team Canada. Quinton Howden had impressive tournament, showing his speed and physicality putting up 5 points in 7 games including the game winner versus the States. Tyson Barrie continued to show why he was the WHL’s best defenseman last year, playing with amazing skill putting up 3 points in 7 games and not being on the ice for an even strength goal until the gold medal game.  And even after a top notch tournament last year with 8 points, Brayden Schenn well exceeded that by putting up an astounding 18 points (tying Dale McCourt for most points in a single tourney by a Canadian at the WJC) with some great highlights including 4 goals against Norway also tying him with Lemieux and Simon Gagne for most goals by a Canadian in a single game. All these impressive stats led him to being named; to the WJC All-star team, being named the best forward in the tournament, and above all, being named the tournaments MVP. “To be honest as a fan I’m still recovering from the loss. But all 3 had great tournaments. There is not much else you can say about Schenn, he was excellent.  Howden was quick made a lot of checks and made some good defensive plays and blocked shots. He did make some bad plays but that’s something we hope to eradicate from his game. Barrie was really impressive, when handling the puck he seemed like one of the better players on the ice, making good passes and nifty moves with the puck and also made a great defensive play against the Russians. We liked what we saw from all of them and can’t wait to see them in the pros.”

Now, to the gold medal winning Russians. With their last pick in the ’10 draft, the Panthers selected Maxim Kitsyn and boy did he ever impress.  After disappointing tournament last year, Kitsyn came guns firing putting up 9 points in 7 games including 5 goals tying him for 5^th for the tournaments scoring leader.  “He was quick and he was strong and physical and really drove to the net and showed a lot of good things that makes a good NHL’er and that’s why we are really happy with his progression and we believe we got a huge steal. Now he is heading to the Mississauga St.Michael’s Majors who are at the top of the CHL and we are really excited to see what he can do in the OHL.”