The Vancouver Canucks will have at least one prospect competing for a medal at the 2025 World Junior Championship.
Tom Willander and Team Sweden will move on to the semifinals in Ottawa but it was a very near thing against a plucky Latvian team that had already upset Canada earlier in the tournament.
Sweden seemed to be in complete control of the game, taking a 3-0 lead in the second period while outshooting Latvia by a wide margin. In fact, they took a 4-0 lead only to have the goal erased on a coach's challenge for offside.
That proved to be a turning point in the game, as Latvia pushed back hard after the successful challenge, scoring two goals before the end of the second period to draw within one.
What had looked like a cakewalk for Sweden turned into a tense third period. Even though Sweden outshot Latvia 18-2 in the third period, Latvian goaltender Linards Feldbergs stopped every Swedish shot, so just one mistake could have meant a tie game and overtime.
Sweden, however, held on for the 3-2 win and will face the winner of USA vs Switzerland, likely USA.
The Canucks' top defenceman prospect, Willander played a major role for Sweden in the win, leading the team in ice time with 24:12, including a team-leading 8:57 in the third period to defend the one-goal lead. Willander has led Sweden in ice time all tournament, averaging 22:41 per game, and has 5 points in the team's 5 games.
Against Latvia, Willander played smart and, with one exception, mistake-free hockey for Sweden.
Aside from the occasional activation up the boards in the offensive zone, Willander kept things simple in this game. He was quick on retrievals, using his skating to be first to dumped-in pucks and turn them up ice in a hurry, so that he spent as little time as possible in the defensive zone. It wasn't fancy but it was effective.
The one exception to his mistake-free game was a costly one, however, as he was on the ice for Latvia's second goal that made the third period so tense.
To be fair to Willander, the primary mistakes on the goal were not his own. He may have stumbled in the neutral zone but recovered his feet in time. He was a little bit deep on the initial shot, caught in no man's land where he couldn't disrupt the shot but he smartly cleared the lane so his goaltender could see it clearly.
It's not Willander's fault that Melker Thelin gave up a big rebound on what seemed like an innocent shot, nor is it Willander's fault that his defence partner, Theo Lindstein, inexplicably backed into backchecking forward Felix Unger Sorum, essentially taking both of them out of the play.
The issue for Willander is that he took too long to realize the danger and didn't get back quickly enough to prevent Elvis Mateiko from banging in the loose puck.
It's a simple mental mistake. Willander takes for granted that Thelin will swallow up the shot and stops skating, when he needed to get back quickly to box out the two Latvian forwards. The goal isn't really his fault — Thelin and Lindstein make the more egregious errors — but Willander had a chance to prevent it.
Other than that goal, Willander was on the ice for just one shot against in the entire game. That includes the final minutes, when Willander was out on the ice for a defensive zone faceoff to defend the one-goal lead as Latvia went 6-on-5 with the empty net. Willander repeatedly closed down on the puck and forced Latvia into the boards to prevent them from getting the puck into a scoring area.
It wasn't a performance that will lead to any laudatory headlines and the one goal against ought to be a bit of a learning experience, but Willander still played a solid game for Sweden and was a big part of how they limited Latvia to just 13 shots on goal.
Team USA, however, will be a stiffer challenge.
Basille Sansonnens' World Juniors is likely over
Switzerland's quarterfinal matchup wasn't a favourable one, as they were tasked with taking down a powerhouse Team USA that finished first in Group A in the preliminary round.
As of press time, Team USA held a comfortable 7-1 lead after the second period. That means Canucks prospect Basille Sansonnens won't be moving on to the semifinals.
Sansonnens had a decent showing in his first World Juniors for an overmatched Swiss squad. The 18-year-old defenceman is eligible to play in next year's World Juniors as well, which is worth keeping in mind when evaluating how he played.
Heading into the game against Team USA, Sansonnens averaged 15:05 per game on the third pairing and had no points with a minus-2 rating. Considering the Swiss had no plus players in the tournament, that shouldn't really be held against him.
What impressed most about Sansonnens is the progression of his puck skills, as he looked far more comfortable with the puck than in his draft year. His passes were crisp and on the tape and he even showed a willingness to activate in the offensive zone and the intelligence to know when to do it.
Still, there's no denying that Sansonnens is raw and needs a lot of growth in all elements of his game. That showed early against Team USA, as he was on the ice for both of USA's first two goals.
While Sansonnens wasn't at fault on USA's first goal, he had his pocket picked for a turnover on the second goal. Two passes later, the puck was in the net.
After that, Sansonnens took an undisciplined penalty, blatantly grabbing hold of his opponent's stick in a board battle. That's something defencemen often get away with, but Sansonnens pushed the stick away and held it up over his opponent's head, which the referees couldn't help seeing.
Fortunately for Sansonnens, the penalty wasn't costly, as the Swiss actually got their lone goal while shorthanded.
While Sansonnens' tournament is over, it was still an encouraging performance from the seventh-round pick, as he showed exactly the sort of development you would hope for from a late pick.
