By Mike Beasley /
As Canada’s National Junior team goes after an unprecedented sixth consecutive IIHF World Junior championship later this month, watch for the rest of the competition to have something to say in the matter.
All twelve countries at the 2010 tournament will give it their all but in the end, only one team will come out as world champion.
After five straight titles, it may be presumptuous to consider Canada as the early favourite. But with the abundance of Junior hockey talent in this country and the fact that the tournament is being held on Canadian soil, you have to think Team Canada is the favourite to win it all.
CANADA
2009 Finish: Gold
Top Dog: Alex Pietrangelo
Keep an Eye On : Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall, Nazem Kadri, Colten Teubert
Medal Totals: 15 Gold, 6 Silver, 4 Bronze
World Junior Individual National Records:
Most Medals Won: (3) Jason Botterill, Jay Bouwmeester, Jason Spezza.
Most Points, Career: (31) Eric Lindros.
Most Points, One Championship: (18) Dale McCourt.
Most Points, One Game: (7) Dave Andreychuck.
Most Points, One Period: (4) Dave McIlwain, Wayne Gretzky.
Most Goals, One Period: (3) Jeff Carter, Adam Graves, Jim Sandlak.
RUSSIA
2009 Finish: Bronze
Top Dog: Nikita Filatov
Keep an Eye On: Dmitri Kulikov, Evgeny Grachev, Vyacheslav Voinov, Alexander Burmistrov and Ivan Telegin.
Medal Totals: 12 Gold, 9 Silver, 7 Bronze
World Junior Individual National Records:
Most Medals Won: (3) Evgeni Belosheikan, Alexander Semak, Mikhail Tatarinov.
Most Points, One U20 Championship: (18) Alexander Mogilny.
Most Goals, U20 Career: (27) Pavel Bure, (19) Alexander Mogilny, (18) Alexander Ovechkin.
Most Goals, One U20 Championship: (12) Pavel Bure, (11) German Volgin.
Most Goals, One Game: (5) Alexander Mogilny.
Most Goals, One Period: (3) Oleg Kvasha, Alexander Mogilny.
CZECH REPUBLIC
2009 Finish: Sixth
Top Dog: D Michal Jordan
Keep an Eye On: Ondrej Palat, Thomas Kubalick, Andrez Nestracil
Medal Totals: 2 Gold, 1 Bronze
World Junior Individual National Record:
Most Goals, One Period: (3) Michael Frolik.
SWEDEN
2009 Finish: Silver
Top Dog: Jacob Markstrom
Keep an Eye On: Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson, Mattias Tedenby, Jakob Silverberg
Metal Totals: 1 Gold, 9 Silver, 3 Bronze
World Junior Individual National Records:
Most Medals Won: (3) Johan Davidson.
Most Points, One U20 Championship: (31) Peter Forsberg, (24) Markus Naslund.
Most Goals, One U20 Championship: (13) Markus Naslund.
Most Points, One Game: (10) Peter Forsberg, (8) Ola Rosander, (7) Markus Naslund.
Most Points, One Period: (5) Peter Forsberg, (4) Ola Rosander.
Most Goals, One Period: (3) Patric Englund, Ola Rosander, Tommy Lehman.
UNITED STATES
2009 Finish: Fifth
Top Dog: John Carlson
Keep an Eye On: John Moore, Cam Fowler, Jordan Schroeder, Philip McRae, Danny Kristo, Jeremy Morin.
Medal Totals: 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
World Junior Individual National Records:
Most Points, Career: (25) Jeremy Roenick.
Most Points, One U20 Championship: (19) Doug Weight.
Most Points, One Game: (7) Doug Weight, Ted Drury.
Most Goals, One Game: (5) Chris Bourque, Wally Chapman.
Most Points, One Period: (6) Ted Drury, (4) Mike Modano.
Most Goals, One Period: (3) Chris Bourque, (3) Mike Modano, (3) Wally Chapman, (3) Bobby Carpenter, (3) Kevin Hartzell.
SLOVAKIA
2009 Finish: Fourth
Top Dog: Tomas Tatar
Keep an Eye On: Richard Panic, Jakub Gasparovic, Libor Hudacek, Andrej Stastny, Martin Stajnoch
Medal Totals: 1 Bronze
World Junior Individual National Record:
Most Points, One Period: (4) Vladimir Nemec. |