World Juniors Preliminary Round Recap

The preliminary round had a lot of surprises, from the Americans' surprising early ouster, the return of the Czechs and Slovaks to the medal rounds, and Sweden turning the table on last year's comeback kings Russia in the final game to claim first in the group. Before we get going, why not just have a look at that epic Sweden/Russia New Year's Eve game, from a totally pro-Swedish perspective:

Here's a quick look back at the games, players of the game and the big scorers so far in the tournament:

Game	Date	Home	Score	Visitors	Home POG	Visitor POG
1	Dec 26		1 : 8		Alexander Ruuttu	Mark Stone
2	Dec 26		4 : 9		Nikita Jevpalovs	Filip Forsberg
3	Dec 26		3 : 11		Mathias Bau-Hansen	Charlie Coyle
4	Dec 26		0 : 3		Tim Wolf	Andrei Vasilevskiy
5	Dec 27		7 : 0		Tomas Hertl	Sebastian Feuk
6	Dec 27		3 : 1		Juraj Simboch	Kristers Gudlevskis
7	Dec 28		1 : 4		Jarred Tinordi	Sami Aittokallio
8	Dec 28		4 : 3 (SO)		Max Friberg	Joël Vermin
9	Dec 28		5 : 0		Freddie Hamilton	Petr Mrazek
10	Dec 28		3 : 1		Andrei Makarov	Tomas Jurco
11	Dec 29		2 : 10		Nicklas Jensen	Brandon Gormley
12	Dec 29		0 : 14		Zegmus Girgensons	Yevgeni Kuznetsov
13	Dec 30		2 : 5		Bill Arnold	Petr Holik
14	Dec 30		9 : 1		Erik Thorell	Michal Toman
15	Dec 30		10 : 1		Miikka Salomäki	Patrick Bjorkstrand
16	Dec 30		5 : 3		Christoph Bertschy	Arturs Kuzmenkovs
17	Dec 31		0 : 4		Tomas Nosek	Mikael Granlund
18	Dec 31		6 : 4		Tomas Matousek	Tanner Richard
19	Dec 31		3 : 2		Brendan Gallagher	Jacob Trouba
20	Dec 31		3 : 4 (OT)		Andrei Vasilevskiy	Jonas Brodin

After the jump, we'll recap some of the stats through the preliminary round:

Top 20 Scorers

Rk	Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
1	Mark Stone		4	7	2	9
2	Nikita Gusev		4	3	6	9
2	Yevgeni Kuznetsov		4	3	6	9
4	Max Friberg		4	7	1	8
5	Teemu Pulkkinen		4	5	3	8
6	Ryan Strome		4	3	5	8
7	Jonathan Huberdeau		4	1	7	8
8	Mikael Granlund		4	1	6	7
9	Sebastian Collberg		4	3	3	6
9	Miikka Salomäki		4	3	3	6
9	Erik Thorell		4	3	3	6
12	Tomas Jurco		4	1	5	6
12	Ludvig Rensfeldt		4	1	5	6
14	Brett Connolly		4	4	1	5
14	Charlie Coyle		4	4	1	5
14	Joakim Nordstrom		4	4	1	5
17	Joel Armia		4	3	2	5
18	Bill Arnold		4	2	3	5
18	Brandon Gormley		4	2	3	5
18	Rickard Rakell		4	2	3	5
18	Jason Zucker		4	2	3	5

"Hands of Stone" is a recurring theme throughout the tournament so far, but its linemate Jonathan Huberdeau who is setting him up most often, and Ryan Strome is cashing in big time as well. Of note, Yevgeni Kuznetsov has zero points against playoff teams in this tournament, while I've deducted one goal from the Sebastian Collberg compared to the IIHF's rankings because they count the game-winning shootout goals as a goal which is quite obviously stupid. Max Friberg is tied with Mark Stone for the goal scoring lead, while Brandon Gormley is the only defenceman to break into the top 20... there hasn't been a standout offensive performer from the blueline as of yet, though Gormley's performance to date is definitely notable.

Goaltending Statistics

Rk	Name	Team	GP	Min	SOG	GA	Svs	SV%	GAA	SO
1	Sami Aittokallio		2	120:00	75	1	74	98.67	0.50	1
2	Andrei Vasilevskiy		3	182:44	125	4	121	96.80	1.31	2
3	Scott Wedgewood		2	120:00	58	2	56	96.55	1.00	1
4	Mark Visentin		2	120:00	51	3	48	94.12	1.50	0
5	Petr Mrazek		4	240:00	132	11	121	91.67	2.75	1
6	Juraj Simboch		3	180:00	94	8	86	91.49	2.67	0
7	Lukas Meili		2	113:31	82	9	73	89.02	4.76	0
8	Jack Campbell		3	177:36	88	10	78	88.64	3.38	0
9	Tim Wolf		3	130:14	56	7	49	87.50	3.22	0
10	Kristers Gudlevskis		3	177:02	126	16	110	87.30	5.42	0
11	Christopher Gibson		2	120:00	67	9	58	86.57	4.50	0
12	Johan Gustafsson		3	186:42	66	10	56	84.85	3.21	0
13	Sebastian Feuk		4	210:21	181	34	147	81.22	9.70	0

Yeah, Sweden is going to need a lot better from Gustafsson in the semifinals and finals, but he leads all goaltenders in the wins statistic despite his dismal performance to date. Goaltending differences definitely stand out as a reason why the Czechs and Slovaks made it over the Americans and Swiss this year. Also, poor Sebastian Feuk... he never stood a chance.