CanucksArmy World Junior Recap: Sweden 3 – 1 Czech Republic

The Czech Republic entered the game with some tailwind from upsetting Russia in their first game of the tournament. Against Sweden, however, their start wasn’t great, and the Swedes around Vancouver Canucks prospect Elias Pettersson went into the game with a 2-0 lead. It was also Pettersson who scored a game-winning, bar-down goal on the power play, this time from the left circle.

In period two, the Czechs looked like the team we saw upsetting Russia. At times, Sweden struggled to get the puck out of the defensive zone for extended periods of time, and 2018-eligible Filip Zadina made them pay for it.

Team Czech Republic came out of the second intermission with a clear will to tie the game, but they couldn’t turn their continuous pressure into another goal. Instead, the Swedes added another and took home a 3-1 victory.

It pains me to say this, but despite his incredible goal and six shots on net, Pettersson is not the player that excited me the most on the Swedish roster. In fact, he was quite far from that, as there were multiple Swedes who stood out more often and more consistently in even strength.

That said, he once again proved he has the tools to be a dangerous power play producer. The unit with Pettersson, Alex Nylander, Lias Andersson, Fabian Zetterlund and Rasmus Dahlin was nothing short of dominant.

The Canucks are in for a treat when they add Pettersson to their power play opposite Brock Boeser.

Going into the year, it was Rasmus Dahlin vs. Andrei Svechnikov for first overall in the 2018 draft. But by now, this has changed completely. Dahlin is the No. 1, and there is absolutely no doubt about it.

It wasn’t quite as obvious, but if you paid close attention to Dahlin’s game, he looked especially strong defensively, making no mistakes. He can close down passing lanes, defend the rush, battle in the corners, or clean up in front of the net. There really is nothing Dahlin can’t do, and there should be no doubt that he will be the next first-overall pick.

Dahlin led all Swedes with 24:05 of ice time.

The tournament has already shown that Dahlin and Svechnikov aren’t the only high-end prospects of the coming draft. Along with Americans Quinton Hughes and Brady Tkachuk, Filip Zadina is proving he has the potential to become a scorer at the highest level.

Against the Swedes, Zadina continuously created offence with Martin Necas while displaying his high-end skill-set. He certainly looks like a top-five pick right now.

Zadina had six shots and led his team in ice time as well, including defencemen, with 22:32.

Necas and Zadina shaped a dynamic duo that might have deserved another goal or two. Whenever the Czechs planted themselves in the Swedish zone, pressuring the net, you could be sure it’s the line around Necas and Zadina.

Necas was the Czechs’ most noticeable player and set up his team’s lone goal, displaying excellent vision and playmaking skill.

Along with his playmaking ability, Necas displayed excellent individual skill. He is an incredibly fast and agile player with a quick and smooth set of hands, allowing him to avoid defensive pressure and create space for himself and his teammates.

Axel Jonsson Fjallby was not one I had on the radar going into the game, but made sure I noticed him throughout. The Washington Capitals prospect has just four goals and eight points in 25 games with Djugardens IF in the Swedish Hockey League this season, but he did extremely well in blue-and-yellow.

In the first period, he fought through two defencemen before setting up Marcus Davidsson for the first goal of the night.

After that, he continuously impressed with his hard work, speed, and vision, setting up several other scoring chances.