There may never be a better illustration of why North American hockey fans should keep an eye on hockey’s World Championship than this year’s playoff run by Arturs Silovs.
When the 23-year-old stepped between the pipes for the Vancouver Canucks in Game 4 of their first-round series against the Nashville Predators, Silovs had just nine games of NHL experience on his resume. But he was already a legend in his home country after he was named MVP of the 2023 World Championship, delivering a 3-1 quarterfinal win in front of the fans in Riga in arguably the biggest game in the nation’s history, then beating out the U.S. in Tampere to earn a bronze medal.
The impact of underdog stories like Silovs and the Latvians’ doesn’t fully reveal itself in the moment. But that MVP performance immediately put Silovs in some incredible company. Other recent winners of the award include Canada’s Mark Stone (2019), Patrick Kane from Team USA (2018), Sweden’s William Nylander (2017) and Switzerland’s Roman Josi (2013).
Czechs are Going for Gold
The last time the tournament was held in Czechia, in 2015, it was a victory lap for Jaromir Jagr as he signed off from international competition at the age of 43.
The Czechs lost to the Americans in the bronze medal game, but with nine points in 10 games, Jagr was a deserving recipient of the MVP honors — unquestionably first in the hearts of the hockey-mad fans in Prague.
In honour of @68Jagr dropping the puck yesterday in Prague. Took this video from the 2015 IIHF World Championship in the same arena. Final appearance for Jagr in 🇨🇿 jersey. Crowd went nuts. Moment I will never forget. pic.twitter.com/TleSmUKTcm
— Bryan Mudryk (@BryanMudryk) October 9, 2022
Hosting again this year, the Czechs look serious about returning to the gold medal game for the first time since they won it all in 2010. Sitting second in Group A, they’ll wrap up their round-robin play with a heavy-duty clash against first-place Canada on Tuesday at 10:20 a.m. ET.
The Czechs will be adding some offensive reinforcements. After Carolina’s Martin Necas arrived in time for the 4-1 win over Great Britain on Saturday, Boston’s David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha are also now headed back to their homeland.
It's official: David Pastrňák & Pavel Zacha will both join Czechia, should arrive Monday #NHLBruins #IIHF #MensWorlds @czehockey https://t.co/e1MUKczgYN
— Derek O'Brien (@Derek_J_OBrien) May 19, 2024
Canada Aims to Defend
The defending gold medallists from Canada added John Tavares from Toronto after their initial roster was announced and named him captain.
Their only stumble so far was blowing that five-goal lead against Austria before recovering with Tavares’s overtime-winner.
FIVE UNANSWERED 3RD PERIOD GOALS FROM AUSTRIA! 🤯🤯🤯
Canada has blown their 6-1 lead as Marco Rossi scores the equalizer! #MensWorlds pic.twitter.com/mpcF0UCW8d
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 14, 2024
Dylan Cozens is leading the offense with six goals and eight points.
Related: IIHF World Championship: Bedard, Slafkovsky Among Young Players to Watch
The Other Contenders
With round-robin action wrapping up Tuesday, three other teams are also comfortably through to the knockout stage.
Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. are all rich with high-end NHL talent. After the Americans’ 10-1 rout of Kazakhstan on Sunday, Matt Boldy, Brady Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau took over the top three slots in the tournament scoring race, just ahead of Switzerland’s Josi and Nico Hischier.
The Americans are also making an important roster addition ahead of the elimination games: Charlie Lindgren is set to join goalies Alex Nedeljkovic, Alex Lyon and Trey Augustine.
From this morning:
Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren is en route to Prague and will play for Team USA at the IIHF World Championship.
More on his decision, why he changed his mind and plans for him between the pipes at Worlds.https://t.co/pvQe2W8ark
— Sammi Silber 🏒 (@sammisilber) May 18, 2024
Fighting It Out
Beyond the big dogs, underdog stories like Silovs’ play out at every World Championship.
This year, the biggest disruptors have been the Austrians — who played the period of their lives when they erased that 6-1 deficit against Canada.
Marco Rossi, the 22-year-old Minnesota Wild forward, is the only NHL player on Austria’s roster. He has been good, but his group’s success has been a true team effort.
One day after hanging with Canada, the Austrians then earned a regulation win over Finland thanks to Benjamin Baumgartner’s game-winner with one second left in the third period.
Final moments of the first Austria win ever over Finland at #MensWorlds.🇦🇹👏 @eishockey_aut pic.twitter.com/3JeYnqzZGu
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 16, 2024
They’ll close out their round-robin with a winnable game against Great Britain on Tuesday. That means the race for the last playoff spot in Group A could go down to the wire — and could earn the Austrians their first finish above 10th place since 1994 (eighth).
As for the Latvians, the defending bronze medallists aren’t going away easily. Even without Silovs, they’ve eked out razor-thin wins against Poland, France and Slovakia, all in extra time.
It won’t be easy, but they can return to the knockout round on Tuesday if they can conjure up a regulation win over the Americans and Slovakia loses in regulation against Sweden.
Who’s the Next Silovs?
With that loss to Austria and a shootout defeat at the hands of the Czechs, the first five games of the round-robin haven’t gone as well as the Finns would have hoped.
But Montreal Canadiens fans should be heartened by the play of 20-year-old Oliver Kapanen.
A late second-round pick by Montreal in 2021, Kasperi Kapanen’s cousin has played well in Finland’s Liiga for the last two years and is due to move up to Timra in the tougher Swedish League next season.
Oliver Kapanen stays hot!🔥 @leijonat opens the scoring early against Norway.🇫🇮 #MensWorlds #NORFIN @timra_ik pic.twitter.com/C4oEIyQoYy
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 13, 2024
As the second-youngest player on Finland’s World Championship roster, Kapanen has been a big-time offensive powerhouse on a squad that often struggles to score, with six goals in his team’s first five games.
Get more coverage of the World Championship at THN.com/international.
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Related: Why Team USA Is Icing Its Best World Championship Roster In Years
Related: Meet Arturs Silovs, the Canucks’ International Man of Mystery
Related: John Tavares Shows Why He Was the Right Choice As Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
News Summary:
- World Championship: As Canada Aims to Defend Gold, Host Czechs Load Up Their Lineup
- Check all news and articles from the latest NHL updates.