Have we all calmed down after having a good night’s sleep? The NHL went through a ringer over the last 72 hours or so, centered around the Washington Capitals, New York Rangers, Tom Wilson, and T.J. Oshie (and it’s not even done yet). As the dust hopefully settles on what was a ridiculous chain of events in the past few days, we look to the Chicago Blackhawks to give us a sense of stability and familiarity in the hockey world. It will all feel right again when the Carolina Hurricanes continue their quest to finish the season as the top team in the NHL and likely beat up on the Blackhawks again tonight.
With just four games remaining for the Blackhawks and no postseason in the future, the 2021 season is all but over for Chicago. However, the season wasn’t a total loss. Anyone watching knows that the emergence and development of a number of young players into viable NHL regulars, most of whom will be part of the lineup next season, was a major accomplishment.
And they were singular in that regard this season:
Here are each NHL team s total games played by rookies this season. Blackhawks have the most: pic.twitter.com/PLtpoTJvnA
And that should continue into next year, with some new additions, of course.
Canada Under-18 team advances to semis following dominating performance against Czech Republic
Photo Courtesy of Hockey Canada Kamloops Blazers forward Logan Stankoven celebrates after scoring a goal in Canada’s 10-3 win over the Czech Republic on Monday.
Canada reached the medal round with a vengeance at the IIHF World Under-18 Hockey Championship on Monday afternoon.
A three-goal outburst in the opening seven minutes set the tone for a quarter-final contest in Frisco, Texas as Canada cruised to a 10-3 triumph over the Czech Republic as they qualified for the final four for the second straight tournament.
Regina Pats forward Connor Bedard turned in his best performance of the tournament to date as he scored two goals and added three assists.
Youth Movement
The U18 World Championships tournament in suburban Dallas rev up for final games this week with gold and NHL futures at stake. Here are draft-eligible players to watch by Andy Eide / @AndyEide / nhl.com/kraken
The world s best hockey players under 18 years old are skating in Frisco, Texas this coming week looking to find gold for their country and improve their future NHL prospects. The International Ice Hockey Federation is hosting the annual U18 World Championship for junior male players, which wrapped up its preliminary round this weekend.
The Dallas-area quarterfinals start Monday with Team USA facing Sweden (6pm, NHL Network, HockeyTV.com) and Canada opening up against the Czech Republic (1pm., NHLN, HockeyTV). Russia and Belarus open the quarters with a 10:30am game and Finland matches up
Canada, Czech Republic set to battle in U18 quarters on TSN
Team Canada enters the knockout stage on Monday at the 2021 Under-18 World Hockey Championship from Texas. You can watch Canada s quarterfinal matchup against Czech Republic Monday afternoon at 4pm ET/1pm PT on TSN 1/4 and streaming on TSN.ca, the TSN App and the TSN Direct.
TSN.ca Staff Shane Wright , Images on Ice
After posting a perfect 4-0 preliminary record in Group A, Team Canada enters the knockout stage on Monday at the 2021 Under-18 World Hockey Championship from Texas.
You can watch Canada s quarterfinal matchup against Czech Republic Monday afternoon at 4pm ET/1pm PT on TSN 1/4 and streaming on TSN.ca, the TSN App and TSN Direct. Later, Sweden takes on the United States in another quarterfinal matchup at 9pm ET/6pm PT on TSN1 and streaming on TSN.ca, the TSN App and TSN Direct.