The round robin is in the books at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup.

Russia continued their undefeated play with a win over the Finns, while Sweden did the same thing in the other pool against the Swiss. Canada made easy work of the Slovaks, while the States were a mess agains the Czech Republic. Credit to The Czechs though, as they needed the win and then made the most of the chance by dismantling the American defence.

This means that Canada will play Sweden in the Semi-Finals, while the Russians and Czech Republic will face off. Winners of each game will meet in the finals the following day.

 

The Sault St Marie forward had a noticeable game today against Slovakia with two goals. The first being:

It was a nice move to catch the defender flatfooted and reaching to the wrong area while opening up a new shooting lane. He used that new lane to pick the far corner. His second goal was a tip on a point shot on the powerplay.

Barratt now has 5 points (3-2-5) in three games for Canada.

The 6’1″ and 180 lbs centre had 9 goals and 18 assists in 63 games last season and will look to build on that for next season as plays a bigger role in the Greyhounds offence. Based on that production, an extremely impressive 20.3% of comparable players went onto becoming NHL regulars. There will be greater fluctuation to those numbers as there is still the entire draft year to go, but Hayton has made the most of his chances at Ivan Hlinka and has a good frame to build off of.

Another smaller defenceman who has been making the most of his chances. He was playing the playing the shooter in the middle of the penalty kill box on the powerplay:

It’s unconventional as it defers from the usually ‘battling’ in front, but Addison reads the play extremely well. Adjusting his location to give his teammate someone to pass to, while forcing the Slovak’s defenders to adjust their formation.

He now has 5 points (2-3-5) in three games for Canada.

There is a bit of a theme to the high end of this year’s defence grouping. They are generally undersized but loaded with skill. The 5’9″ and 180 lbs Addison is no different. But his 33 (9-24-33) points in 63 games with Lethbridge last year is a good sign and has him in the conversation as a mid-late first round pick.

Olivier Rodrigue has played the last two games for Team Canada and has played well in both games despite not being overly tested.

After the two games he has a 2-0-0 record with 1.00 GAA and 0.913 SV%.

He’s been calm and confident in the net when there have been chances. His movement, pushoffs and squaring to shots have been noticeable. He makes himself look very big in the net. It’s obviously tough for a goaltender when they don’t face a lot of shots, so it will be interesting to see how (or if) does against the tougher competition in the elimination rounds.

Rodrigue is currently ranked as the 66th best prospect for the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.

Born on the last day of eligibility for the 2018 NHL Draft, Jan Jenik has been making his mark in every game for the Czech Republic.

With 2 goals and 1 assist today, he now has 6 points (5-1-6) in three games. He is a lanky kid who skates well through his good acceleration and top speed. His first goal today was a loose puck in front:

His second goal showcased some of his puck skills:

Jenik is expected to play in the U20 Czech league next season – but could represent the Czech’s at the World Juniors and possibly gradate to the Extraliga for some games. He will be an interesting player to follow this season, as there will be no one younger in this draft class.

The other day, I briefly mentioned Kristian Tanus as a Finnish player who was noticeable so far. But Rasmus Kupari has been the best Finn after three games. With six points in the round robin format, he leads all Finnish skaters.

Although he didn’t score today, he had a nice move that almost tied the game:

The 6’1″ and 185 lbs centre is expected to make the leap up to Liiga next season which should allow us to have a better statistical scope of him as a player. He had been playing in the U20 league last season as 16 year old.