World Juniors: USA Takes Down Canada 3-1 In The New Years Eve Showdown, Head Into Quarterfinals Undefeated
Game Time: 3:30 pm ET
Puck Line: Canada -1.5
Over/Under: 5.5
Well here we are. December 31, 2016. The day that THE United States of America swiftly kicks Canada in the cock and spoils their 2017 IIHF World Junior Championships. We will not go quietly into the night. We will not vanish without a fight. We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive! Today… we celebrate… our Independence Day!
But for real. This is the biggest game of the tournament so far. USA didn’t fall into any traps with their warm up round against Latvia and Slovakia. They survived the test against Russia. And now they’re 3-0 going up against undefeated Canada. The Canadians have put together the better resume so far with a goal differential of +15 compared to USA’s +9. Taylor Raddysh tied a Canadian record of scoring 4 goals in a single game against Latvia the other night. Dylan Strome is tied for 2nd in the tournament with 7 points. Mat Barzal has 6 of his own. Canada was the favorite heading in to the tournament and they haven’t done anything yet to disprove that. But USA is looking to play spoiler today.
Per usual, look for Clayton Keller and Colin White to provide most of the offense for Team USA with kids like Jeremy Bracco chiming in. Joey Anderson got bumped out to the top line with Keller and White, and Tage Thompson slides down to the 3rd line with Kieffer Bellows and Jack Roslovic. That’s a big, strong line that should be able to give Canada some match up problems. Also–captain Luke Kunin has been relatively silent so far this tournament so look for el capitan to finally make a name for himself today. And if Canada wants to get into a physical game today, well then Erik Foley and Jordan Greenway will be there waiting for them.
Follow @BarstoolJordie on Twitter for live updates/GIFs, and make sure to keep checking back on the blog for intermission reports. The game will be broadcasted on NHL Network here in the land of the free, and on TSN up in that country to the North. I’ll throw a stream link on here closer to puck drop.
USA! USA! USA! USA!
1st Period Updates: USA, 2 – Canada, 0
Colin White has scored in all 3 games leading into today. So naturally he’d get things started against Canada on the powerplay after this beauty of a feed from Jordan Greenway.
Absolutely LOVE the disrespect in his celly. Letting Ingram know about it by screaming directly grill.
Then Jordan Greenway decided to do work on his own on the next USA powerplay. Kid is a fucking BEAST. I really hope this isn’t a racist thing to say but there’s a ton of Wayne Simmonds in his game.
3 shots on goal, 2 goals at this point for the good guys.
Now I’ll be honest… I’m a little nervous about going up 2-0 so early in the game. Now you force Canada to get aggressive already and the ice seems to be a little tilted since the Greenway goal. Especially when the stripes are gifting Canada some powerplays after Charlie McAvoy was the greatest teammate ever and retrieved Woll’s stick for him.
But Woll and the Team USA defense has been up to the task and with 20 minutes down, it’s all United States of America. Too big. Too strong. Too fast.
2nd Period Updates: USA, 3 – Canada, 1
Remember how I said to expect a big game out of USA captain Luke Kunin? Well…. he got 5 and a game misconduct for this hit on Philippe Myers.
Looks relatively clean to me but since Myers is a Flyers’ prospect, I’m forced to hate Kunin for the rest of my life. Anyway, with 1:48 left in his 5-minute major, Charlie McAvoy took another penalty giving Canada their second 5v3 of the game. Eventually if you give those canucks enough powerplays, they’re going to make you pay. So Thomas Chabot finally gets Canada on the board.
Again, the ice was completely tilted in Canada’s direction. Feel like they were on the powerplay for the entire period. But after only allowing 1 goal during the major, Jordan Greenway got his 3rd point of the game and Jeremy Bracco put the boys up by 2 again with this gem.
Then Joey Anderson had a chance to put USA up 4-1 right before the end of the period but Connor Ingram decided it was finally time to redeem himself a bit.
So we’re at 3-1 good guys heading into the final frame. Let’s get it.
Final Update: USA, 3 – Canada, 1
Patrick Harper had a chance to add to the USA lead…
But he’s a very sweet boy and decided to spare the Canadians. Then Dillon Dube had a chance to cut the lead to just 1…
But he’s a big dumb stupid idiot and whiffed completely.
And in the end, Team USA did enough to hold on to the win and send the Canadians into 2017 with their dongs in their mouth. Fucking love it. #1 seed out of Group A. Nice little path set up to the championship game this week. The big story of tonight was the Canadians going 1-for-a million on the powerplay, and Jordan Greenway being a man amongst boys. Love to see a kid like Greenway put on a performance like this and make a name for himself. Big night for Woll. Another big night for White and Bracco. Good fight, good night. Time to get drunk and wild.
USA! USA! USA! USA!
(make sure to throw that follow on Twitter —–> @BarstoolJordie)