Three New York Rangers prospects took home Gold at the World Junior Championship in Edmonton on Saturday night.
If you hear the word dramatic being used to describe the thrilling 3-2 OT win by Canada over Finland, I’m not sure that captures it well enough.
This year, the IIHF went to a 3 on 3 OT to decide the game and the tempo was breathtaking. At times, the events that filled the extra session were almost theatrical. The MVP of the tournament, Mason McTavish literally knocked a puck out of mid-air at the goal line before Kent Johnson scored to give Canada the Gold.
“It was pretty crazy,” McTavish exclaimed. “My stick was in the right place at the right time. I don’t even know why I was behind our goalie. I’m just thinking about it now. But next thing I went to the bench and KJ was on a breakaway. It was an exciting couple of minutes and so happy to be on the right side of it.”
New York Rangers prospects take Gold at WJC
Brennan Othmann and Will Cuylle were used sparingly by head coach Dave Cameron as each received a little over 10 minutes of ice time in the contest. On the other side, Rangers prospect Kalle Vaisanen played a healthy 19:35 and once again was extremely strong defensively to win Silver.
The star for the Rangers prospects was goalie Dylan Garand as he stopped 29 of 31 shots for Canada. He finished the tournament with perfect 6-0 record to go along with a 1.98 GAA and a .925 SV%.
“The puck went up and over me,” Garand began to recall on McTavish’s game-saving play. “Then I look back and Mac just pulled if off the line then we go down and score. Oh my God! What a feeling!”
It was an extra special day for the goaltender, whose father was celebrating a birthday by watching his son win Gold.
Canada’s victory is the second time where three Rangers prospects won Gold together. Chris Kreider, Derek Stepan and Ryan Bourque helped Team USA to victory at the 2010 WJC held in Saskatchewan.
Here are the final WJC stats for all NYR prospects:
- Brennan Othmann (CAN): 6GP, 2G – 4A, 6PTS
- Will Cuylle (CAN): 7GP, 2G -2A, 4PTS
- Dylan Garand (CAN): 6-0, 1.98 GAA, .925 SV%
- Kalle Vaisanen (FIN): 7GP, 1G – 1A, 2PTS
- Brett Berard (USA): 5GP, 1G, 1 PT
- Jaroslav Chmelar (CZE): 3GP, 1G, 1 PT
- Adam Sykora (SVK): 4GP, 1G, 1 PT
NHL News and Rumors
More must-reads: