The New York Rangers had seven of their prospects from their last three drafts play at the World Junior Championship. On Saturday four of them will play for the right to win Gold at the tournament.
Canada defeated Czechia by a 5-2 score which sends Brennan Othmann (2021: 1st rd), Will Cullye (2020: 2nd rd) and Dylan Garand (2020: 4th rd) to the Gold Medal game. They will face Kalle Vaisanen (2021: 4th rd) and Finland, who beat Sweden by a 1-0 margin in the semifinals.
New York Rangers playing for Gold at WJC
In Friday’s semifinals action, only Cullye registered a point on an assist in the first period to make it 2-0 for Canada. Garand, who hasn’t been tested much, had his best game of the tournament stopping 30 of 32 shots. That included all 16 in the middle stanza when Czechia was coming on strong.
Vaisanen continues to show he can play a very responsible defensive game. He finished with 12:08 of ice time and 2 shots on goal in the shutout victory.
Jaroslav Chmelar, once again did not play after sustaining an injury on his hit from behind to Othmann that occurred in round-robin action. He suffered a laceration when Othmann’s skate came up as he was going down from the illegal check.
If Canada can defeat Finland, it will be the fist time since 2010 where three Rangers prospects won Gold together. Chris Kreider, Derek Stepan and Ryan Bourque helped Team USA to victory at WJC held in Saskatchewan.
Here’s a look at the final day of WJC action:
- Sweden vs. Czechia for Bronze, 4 PM ET
- Canada vs. Finland, for Gold, 8 PM ET
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