Gerard Gallant leads Canada to the Finals

Only one New York Rangers prospect is left with hopes for a gold medal at the IIHF World Championships after Canada defeated the United States 4-2. That means Team USA will play for the bronze medal on Sunday while Canada goes for the gold.

Potential Rangers coach Gerard Gallant is coaching Team Canada and they are playing for the gold despite barely making it out of the preliminary round.   Canada got off to an 0-3 start, losing in upsets to Latvia and Germany and getting thrashed 5-1 by the USA.  Their place in the Quarter-Finals wasn’t assured until the last game of the round when Germany beat Latvia.  Then, they upset the Russians 2-1 in overtime in the Quarterfinals to advance.

In their win over the United States, Rangers defense prospect Braden Schneider played six shifts for 3:28 of ice time. It wasn’t the least for any USA player.  Cole Perfetti was on the bench and didn’t get a shift.  While Ranger fans may see that as a danger sign regarding Gallant’s deployment of young players, fear not.  He gave defenseman Owen Power 17:17 minutes of ice time, second only to Canucks blueliner Troy Stecher.  Power is the consensus number one pick in this year’s NHL Entry Draft and is currently patrolling the blue line for the University of Michigan.

Schneider assisted on the first goal in Canada’s 7-1 win over Italy.   He took the point shot that Cole Perfetti put in off the rebound.

Schneider played 10:48 minutes in that game, the most ice time he saw in any game at the tournament.

The Rangers on Team USA

Alternate team captain Colin Blackwell got his scoring mojo going the last two games, potting two goals in USA’s Quarterfinals win over Slovakia and being named player of the game.

In the Semifinals loss to Canada, Blackwell got Team USA on the scoreboard to tie the game at 1-1.

Coyotes’ forward Conor Garland leads all  USA players with five goals with Blackwell and Kings  center Trevor Moore next with four.

Defenseman Zac Jones had three assists through the Semi-FInals and leads all Team USA skaters in ice time, averaging 20:21 minutes per game.  His performance has reinforced his standing as a player who will contend for a starting job in New York in September.

Kevin Rooney was the final Ranger on the Team USA roster.  He totaled one assist in nine games, averaging 12:45 minutes of ice time per game.

Other Rangers

Goalie Adam Huska got the start for Slovakia in their 6-1 loss to Team USA on Thursday.  He made 27 saves on 33 shots, giving up the two goals to Colin Blackwell.   That Huska got the start was a surprise and the gamble didn’t pay off, but it was great experience for the Rangers’ prospect. Here are highlights of that game, though they are mostly goals scored against Huska.

He ended up playing in three games while starting two. He finished with a 4.32 Goals Against Average and a .885 Save Percentage.  His two starts were against Sweden and the USA, two of the tougher teams in the tournament.

In the other Quarterfinals loss, Finland defeated the Czech Republic 1-0, ending the tournament for Filip Chytil and Libor Hajek.  Chytil finished the tournament with two goals and two assists in eight games. The highlight for  Chytil was his shootout game winner against Denmark that gave the Czechs a 2-1 win and a place in the Quarterfinals.

Chytil played on a line with Jakub Vrana and Dominik Kubalik and assisted on the only regulation goal for the Czechs in that game.

Libor Hajek played all eight games on the third defense pair. He scored one goal and added two assists. His three points was third most among Czech defensemen.

The last Rangers player or prospect to play at the tournament was defenseman Nils Lundkvist who played only three games before leaving with an injury.  He had scored five assists in those three games and his loss was one reason that Sweden didn’t make it out of the preliminary round.