After a tough season for most of the Montreal Canadiens, they are well represented in the 2016 IIHF World Championships. Nine Canadiens were invited to join their respective countries for the tournament, let’s take a peek at how they’re making out thus far.
Group A
Tomas Plekanec
The captain of the Czech Republic is having a good tournament with two points (2 G) to show for it, and his team is holding strong in first place with 11 points.
Upcoming opponents: Friday, 9:15 AM ET. Team Czech are slated to face Team Kazakhstan which should help them keep their place in the standings, as Kazakhstan have yet to get a regulation win, and have only managed two points.
Alexei Emelin
Team Russia is not far behind the Czechs, sitting in second place with nine points. While defenseman Alexei Emelin hasn’t tallied any points – which is not surprising – he’s the third most penalized player, racking up 25 penalty minutes in just four games. The biggest news on Emelin during the first half of the tournament was when he was ejected from the match-up against Team Latvia after a dirty knee hit on Miks Indrasis.
Upcoming opponents: Saturday, 9:15 AM ET. Emelin will face his Canadiens teammate, Sven Andrighetto when they take on Team Switzerland.
Magnus Nygren
Nygren is no stranger to representing Sweden internationally, and it’s his second stint at the World Championship. The blue liner continues to display his powerful shots, and has tallied one point (1 G) so far during the competition. Unfortunately a stomach bug has limited his production throughout the tournament. Sweden is currently just one point behind the second place Team Russia.
Upcoming opponents: Saturday, 5:15 AM ET. Sweden will face Team Norway who are sit just three points behind them.
Sven Andrighetto
After becoming a pretty permanent part of the Canadiens during the 2015-16 season, Andrighetto made his Men’s World Championship debut with Team Switzerland. Continuing to display his speed and goal-scoring abilities, he’s been an asset to his team, helping them reach fourth place in the standings while gathering four points (1G, 3A) so far during the competition.
Upcoming opponents: Saturday, 9:15 AM ET. Andrighetto will come face-to-face with his Canadiens teammate, Alexei Emelin, and possibly Alex Ovenchin, who’s on his way to join Team Russia.
Lars Eller
Eller was grateful to be invited to join Team Denmark if nothing else to shake of the rough season the Canadiens just faced. He was looking forward to going out there, playing hard and getting some wins. But it’s not really going as he had hoped, seeing as he has 12 penalty minutes in 4 games. Although Eller is tied with Andrighetto with four points (4A) and ranks 13th on the assist leader scoreboard, his team currently resides in sixth place.
Upcoming opponents: Friday, 1:15 PM ET. After Denmark’s devastating 10-1 loss to Russia on Thursday, they have a short time to prepare for a critical match against last place Team Latvia. This should be an easy win for the Danes, as Latvia is sitting in last place with just two points.
Group B
Brendan Gallagher
Team Canada is still working out some of the lineup kinks, but are going strong with a perfect 4-0 record. Due to the different rules in the IIHF, Gallagher can’t be himself 100%, as crease violations are pretty strict, but that didn’t stop him from continuing to battle hard and get the game winning goal during the tournament opener – on his 24th birthday.
Brendan Gallagher with the game winner for @HC_Men in a 2-1 win over @usahockey. #IIHFWorlds. RT to celebrate! pic.twitter.com/7PAEXxYJPQ
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 6, 2016
The biggest story to come out of Team Canada is the unsettling budding “friendship” between Gallagher and Boston Bruins enemy, Brad Marchand. When asked if they’re friends, Gallagher responded, “For now.”
Upcoming opponents: Saturday, 1:15 PM ET. Canada will be taking on fourth place, Team Slovakia.
Mike Condon
This is Condon’s first time representing the USA on any level. He’s won two of the three games he started, grabbing his first World Championship shutout in the process when the USA beat Team France, 4-0 on Thursday. Condon’s turned away 58 of the 64 shots he faced during those three games and is holding a 2.01 GAA. Team USA is split right down the middle with two wins and two losses and reside in third place.
Upcoming opponents: Friday, 9:15 AM ET. USA might have an easy go of it when they take on Team Hungary, who has the worst record of all 16 teams, and have yet to even get on the board.
Martin Reway
This is Reway’s fifth IIHF competition and this time around he’s playing the role of alternate captain. Team Slovakia is currently in fourth place with six points, and so far, Reway has tallied one point (1 A). We’ll most likely see his tally increase as his ice time seems to prove that he has the confidence of the coach, having the most shifts of all forwards for two games in a row.
Upcoming opponents: Saturday, 1:15 PM ET. Slovakia will be taking on Brendan Gallagher and his first place Team Canada.
Tim Bozon
This is Bozon’s fourth time appearing on the international stage. While seeing a decent amount of ice time, he’s struggling to produce with only three shots on goal and nothing to show for it. Team France is sitting in fifth place with five points.
Upcoming opponents: Saturday, 5:15 AM ET. France is up against a tough opponent when they face second place Finland, who are tied with Team Canada with 12 points.
