IIHF World Championships: Stars Heading Home
By FS Staff
Today was the quarterfinal in the World Championships and in a series of stunning defeats, Sweden, USA, and Canada were all defeated. With them went every remaining Star left in the competition. Get caught up on the last few days of action and the final numbers for the boys now their tournament. This post once again leaves out Richard Bachman as he didn’t get any more action.
Loui Eriksson – Sweden
Sweden may be done, but Loui Eriksson was certainly not an issue. Eriksson scored a goal in Sweden’s 4-0 win over Latvia in the final game of the Worlds “regular season”. They matched up with the Czech Republic in the last quarterfinal game of the day. Eriksson scored the opening goal of the game and later assisted on the tying goal in the final frame. Unfortunately, Sweden fell from a crushing last minute goal from Milan Michalek. Eriksson and the Swedes are done, but Loui put up great numbers in his eight games played. His final stat lines reads 5-8-13, good for 4th overall in the entire tournament as of this writing. His 27 shots were among the highest on the team and no one had a better rating a +7.
Kari Lehtonen – Finland
Unfortunately, the injury Lehtonen suffered before our last look was enough to keep him out of the tournament for good. A shame considering that Finland moved on to the semifinals today and Kari Lehtonen could have been their goaltender heading forward. In all, Lehtonen saw action in 4 games, putting together a 2-2 record with one shutout. He stumbled in his two losses, but looked solid as ever in his victories. His knee injury was not considered serious, but it was a smart cautionary move to not bother risking it with more action. Overall it was a good experience for Lehtonen who, if not for a freak accident, would still be fighting for gold.
Jamie Benn – Canada
Benn had a hot start to the World Championships, but his production slowed down significantly as the tournament progressed. This was most likely due to Benn seeing time as a checking line forward and having his scoring chances severely limited. He produced no points in Canada’s final two games and is being sent home after a 4-3 loss at the hands of Slovakia. Jamie Benn finished the tournament with 3 goals and 2 assists, a +4 rating and just 7 shots on goal. This tournament was assuredly good experience for the young Star and could lead to him getting a spot on the 2014 Olympic Team.
Alex Goligoski – United State of America
Alex Goligoski had one of the more surprising tournaments among the Stars, he saw solid time as the United States’ #3/#4 defenseman along with Justin Faulk and produced a few points to go along with it. He scored a goal, his first of the tournament, in Tuesday’s 5-2 victory over Switzerland, but was held pointless in their crushing last second defeat to the Finnish in today’s quarterfinal match. Goose is headed back home, but his 1 goal and 4 assists, along with a +7 rating and 21 shots signify an absolutely fantastic performance from Goligoski. As a young defenseman being groomed to be true top pair guy on the Dallas Stars, fans should only see positive things from this tournament. The same goes for our final performer at the Worlds…
Philip Larsen – Denmark
Larsen may have only had two assists in this tournament and may have had a -6 rating, but his performance cannot be understated. Denmark didn’t qualify for the quarterfinals and the team was admittedly one of the weaker clubs in attendance, but Philip Larsen was the undisputed #1 defenseman for the Danish. His 175:41 of ice was absolutely absurd, blowing away the next closest at 153:37. The same goes for his average per game ice time, which clocked in at an astounding 25:05, also blowing away the next closest at 21:56. I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on the Danish roster heading into the tournament, but I definitely did not see this coming. Larsen earned his coach’s trust and played tough minutes. A wonderful experience for a wonderful young player for the Stars, once again fans should be ecstatic and excited for the future.
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