The 2022 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship tournament begins Dec. 26 in Edmonton and Red Deer, Canada, but we got a glimpse of what could come with a single exhibition game on Dec. 23.
Matty Beniers (Hingham, Mass.) and Brett Berard (East Greenwich, R.I.) combined to make some memorable plays, while goaltender Drew Commesso (Norwell, Mass.) did what he needed to get himself ready for the coming games.
Team USA faced Finland and took a 3-1 lead into the final minutes before taking a major penalty and allowing three goals in regulation and overtime to fall, 4-3. Team Canada faced off against Russia and prevailed by a 6-4 score, both teams featuring what could be generational players in 2005-born forwards Connor Bedard and Matvei Michkov (each of whom scored for their respective clubs).
With the specter of the global COVID-19 pandemic continuing to influence all facets of life, the original multiple-game exhibition schedule was truncated to just the single tune-up contest played before the Christmas holiday. With both matchups televised, we were able to watch and glean some insights on what to expect in the coming days as the signature under-20 competition gets underway. Unfortunately for Team USA, the game also resulted in the loss of a couple of players both to injury and suspension when the team begins its quest to defend the gold medal on Sunday evening against Slovakia.
New England forwards show immediate chemistry
The region’s two most noteworthy forwards took advantage of the opportunity to play together on USA’s top unit. Just nine seconds into the third period, Beniers spotted a loose puck near the right boards just inside the offensive zone and was able to get there first, spin away from a defender, and hit a streaking Berard with a perfect cross-ice feed on his tape. Berard caught the pass and wasted little time before rifling it behind Finland goalie and Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Joel Blomqvist. The play showed Beniers’ vision and instincts for the game, along with Berard’s evolving ability to finish, as evidenced by his 12 goals and 24 points in 21 games with Providence College this year. Last season, the freshman and fifth-round pick of the New York Rangers in 2020 had five goals and 10 points in 20 games.
Beniers, the second overall selection and first-ever draft choice of the expansion Seattle Kraken, is going to be Team USA’s centerpiece player up front, even if he doesn’t fit the mold of a dynamic point producer and is more of a dual-threat, all-around prospect. The play, which broke a 1-1 tie to give USA its first lead of the game, showed the Michigan center’s quick recognition and decisiveness to immediately move the puck for a grade A scoring chance without needing much time and space.
The line, which features a third New England product in Newtown, Conn., native Mackie Samoskevich, should be able to provide USA with the kind of frontline offensive production needed to contend for their B pool play group, which features hockey powers Russia and Sweden. Samoskevich, who joined Beniers this season in Ann Arbor after the Florida Panthers made him their top selection (24th overall) in July, has been a secondary scoring presence as a freshman (4-7-11 in 19 contests) but provides good speed and skills on that line’s right side.
USA loses a couple
Quinnipiac University forward Ty Smilanic, another Panthers prospect, left the game with a lower-body injury to his right leg and did not return to action. After the contest, USA head coach Nate Leaman confirmed that the 74th overall selection in 2020 will miss at the very least the first USA game against Slovakia to begin the tournament, but did not elaborate any further.
Smilanic is a big-bodied forward with size, skating and offense (8-5-13 in 18 games with the Bobcats), so losing him after an awkward fall is a blow to team depth. He did not appear to be putting weight on his leg as he left the ice, not a great sign for his availability as the event goes on. Watch for Anaheim prospect Sasha Pastujov to get an opportunity to get more minutes with Smilanic out. Pastujov opted for major junior after being drafted by the Ducks in the third round, joining the OHL’s Guelph Storm. The Florida native has 20 goals and 35 points thus far in the new season.
Also impacting USA’s depth is the loss of Red Savage, who received a 5-minute major and game misconduct penalty late in regulation for a high hit on top 2022 draft candidate Joakim Kemell. The penalty, which allowed Finland to overcome a 3-1 deficit with a trio of power-play goals, including the winner in overtime, also brings a mandatory one-game suspension for Savage against Slovakia. The play will be reviewed by the IIHF and could bring additional supplementary discipline. It was tough to discern what Savage was doing in that situation, coming in on Kemell with his arms up, his left making clear contact with the opponent’s head. He not only cost his team the game but is now out for at least one, possibly more. Leaman and his staff will no doubt use this as a teaching moment, and while Savage isn’t a top offensive producer, he’s rugged and hard to play against. With Smilanic injured, losing Savage for disciplinary reasons hurts.
Commesso takes the net
Boston University netminder Drew Commesso (Norwell, Mass.), who missed out on last year’s WJC due to COVID exposure, was very good in his first taste of international action, establishing himself as USA’s No. 1 for the tournament. Leaman confirmed after the game that Commesso will start against Slovakia.
He used his size to effectively square up and block the net against some talented Finnish shooters. After giving up the game’s first goal on a lost rebound and net-mouth scramble, he settled in and stopped everything else. His poise and good economy of motion throughout the first two periods bodes well for the Chicago Blackhawks prospect’s pro future.
2022 NHL draft watch
Canada’s Shane Wright is the expected first overall pick in 2022 and had one assist in his team’s exhibition win over Russia. While he had a quiet game in terms of overall production, he showed off the impressive talent combination that has seen him generating buzz since his 15-year-old season, when he was granted exceptional status in the OHL and was the top pick by the Kingston Frontenacs in the 2019 OHL draft. Wright has such a deft touch with the puck and always seems to be able to create something out of nothing. His agility and rapid decision-making were evident on Canada’s power play, where he was able to evade aggressive Russian pursuit to make passes look easy.
USA Finland featured a couple of potential top-5 picks in American center Logan Cooley and Finland’s Kemell.
Cooley, who is getting a bigger opportunity with the loss of Thomas Bordeleau to a positive COVID diagnosis before the team departed for Alberta, showed off his talent and smarts on a few plays with and without the puck. He’s a heads-up skater who can thread on-target passes through tight spaces, and uses his edges and balance to cut and spin away from defenders in small areas. He may have average size but makes up for it with his pure skill and hockey IQ, plus a competitive drive to make plays with and without the puck. It was just one game, but Cooley showed he belongs here and will be a solid complementary piece to this lineup, with much bigger roles coming for the USA in future WJC and other international events.
Kemell, a right-shooting winger playing in Finland’s top pro league already at 17 years old (he doesn’t turn 18 until April), can really skate and shoot. He has 12 goals and 18 points for JyP Jyvaskyla, good for third place on his club. He and fellow (late ’03) draft prospect Brad Lambert are both on JyP and Team Finland here, with Kemell having moved ahead of the highly-touted Lambert on a lot of draft boards in the early portion of the season. Kemell is noticeable for his speed, east-west agility and the ability to catch-and-shoot pucks quickly and get the puck to the net through traffic.
Lambert is an explosive forward who impressed as a pro last year, but has not had a very good start in his draft season and might be feeling the pressure.
All three are first-round selections, with Kemell and Cooley separating themselves from Lambert for the time being in what is shaping up to be a deeper class in 2022 than a previous couple of drafts.
2023 NHL draft resembles 2004
As was the case nearly 17 years ago when Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin were two elite talents in the same draft, things could be shaping up in a similar fashion for 2023.
Russian Matvei Michkov and Canada’s Connor Bedard combined for three goals in their matchup, and are living up to the hype.
Like Wright, Bedard was granted exceptional status to play for the Regina Pats of the WHL last year, and he dazzled, scoring 28 points in a 30-game limited sample size due to the coronavirus. This season, Bedard isn’t on the same kind of blistering pace (24 points in as many games), but you can tell that he’s a special talent. In the third period (while playing limited even-strength minutes as Canada’s 13th forward), Bedard went to the middle of the ice and took a Cole Perfetti pass. Instead of rushing the shot, he held the puck and made a skill move to pull it around the goalie and find the back of the net.
Michkov, a pure shooter who could be the heir apparent to Ovechkin as the NHL’s most feared goal scorer when he eventually makes it over to North America, showed off his natural knack for the net scoring twice in the game. The second goal was a laser of a shot that Sebastian Cossa had no chance to see let alone stop. While it was scored in the waning seconds of a game no longer in doubt, it showed that Michkov is dangerous no matter the situation, and makes for an exciting prelude to what could come in the next 10 days and beyond.
Between Michkov and Bedard, buckle up for a fun 18 months as the pair will make their own runs at being the first player to hear their name called in 2023.
