Among the players participating in the tournament are six of the 13 players they selected at the 2021 NHL Draft, including all three of their second-round picks: United States defenseman Scott Morrow (No. 40), Finland defenseman Aleksi Heimosalmi (No. 44) and Finland forward Ville Koivunen (No. 51).
Hurricanes assistant general manager Darren Yorke said he has been most impressed by the growth Morrow has shown in going from Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Faribault, Minnesota, last season to scoring 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in 15 games as a freshman at Massachusetts this season.
“Watching him play high school hockey was like, I don’t know if you’re a ‘Seinfeld’ fan, but Kramer taking the karate class against kids,” Yorke said, referencing a scene where an adult character hilariously dominates younger competitors. “He was so much better than the competition and maybe that raised doubts among other teams or whatnot. We obviously didn’t see it that way. And then he goes and plays [six] games in the [United States Hockey League] (with Fargo) and does the exact same thing. And then he goes to college and does the exact same thing. And now he’s going to go to the World Junior level. And the best predictor of the future is going back to past performances, so I would imagine Scott is able to utilize his skills and have a pretty good impact on Team USA.”
Carolina’s group doesn’t include a first-round pick — forward Seth Jarvis, the No. 13 selection in the 2020 NHL Draft, is eligible to play but will not be released by the Hurricanes — but does include four seventh-round picks: Russia forwards Alexander Pashin (No. 199, 2020) and Nikita Guslistov (No. 209, 2021), Canada defenseman Ronan Seeley (No. 208, 2020), and Sweden defenseman Joel Nystrom (No. 219, 2021).
“Our scouts do a tremendous job, our development coaches do a tremendous job,” Yorke said. “When all that comes together, it leads to organizational depth and really speaks volumes to the process and how we go about solving the draft itself.”
The Detroit Red Wings are second with eight prospects, followed by the Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Kings and Minnesota Wild with six each. Thirty of the 32 NHL teams will have at least one prospect in the tournament; the New York Islanders and Tampa Bay Lightning won’t have anyone playing.
The 2022 WJC is scheduled for Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta. The 10 teams are split into two groups for the preliminary round. Group A consists of Canada, Finland, Germany, Czechia and Austria, and will play its preliminary-round games at Rogers Place in Edmonton. Group B features the United States, which won the 2021 WJC, along with Russia, Sweden, Slovakia and Switzerland, with preliminary-round games at WP Centrium in Red Deer.
All games will be broadcast live in the United States on NHL Network, and on TSN and RDS in Canada.
World Junior Championship rosters
Austria
Goalies
Lukas Moser, Villach Jr., Austria Jr. league (2022 draft eligible)
Leonhard Sommer, Linz 2, Austria 2nd division (2022 draft eligible)
Sebastian Wraneschitz, Victoria, WHL (2022 draft eligible)
Defensemen
Luca Erne, Fresno, USPHL (2022 draft eligible)
Lukas Horl, RB Hockey Juniors, Austria 2nd division (2022 draft eligible)
Lorenz Lindner, Klagenfurt 2, Austria 2nd division (2022 draft eligible)
Matteo Mitrovic, HTC Hockey Academy U20, Austria Jr. league (2022 draft eligible)
Lucas Necesany, RB Hockey Juniors, Austria 2nd division (2022 draft eligible)
David Reinbacher, Kloten, Swiss 2nd division (2023 draft eligible)
Tobias Sablatting, Klagenfurt 2, Austria 2nd division (2022 draft eligible)
Christoph Tialler, Klagenfurt 2, Austria 2nd division (2022 draft eligible)
Martin Urbanek, Kitzbuhel, Austria 2nd division (2022 draft eligible)
Forwards
Luca Auer, RB Hockey Juniors, Austria 2nd division (2022 draft eligible)
Mathias Bohm, Vienna, AUT (2022 draft eligible)
Tim Geifes, South Shore, USPHL PRE (2022 draft eligible)
Maximilian Hengelmuller, RB Hockey Juniors, Austria 2nd division (2022 draft eligible)
Marco Kasper, Rogle, SHL, (2022 draft eligible)
Oskar Maier, RB Hockey Juniors, Austria 2nd division (2022 draft eligible)
Carolina Hurricanes (10): CAN- Ronan Seeley, D; FIN- Aleksi Heimosalmi, D; Ville Koivunen, F; GER- Nikita Quapp, G; RUS- Nikita Guslistov, F; Alexander Pashin, F; Vasily Ponomarev, F; SWE- Zion Nybeck, F; Joel Nystrom, D; USA- Scott Morrow, D
Detroit Red Wings (8): CAN- Sebastian Cossa, G; Donovan Sebrango, D; CZE- Jan Bednar, G; FIN- Eemil Viro, D; SWE- Simon Edvinsson, D; Theodor Niederbach, F; USA- Carter Mazur, F; Redmond Savage, F
Los Angeles Kings (6): FIN- Samuel Helenius, F; Kasper Simontaival, F; RUS- Kirill Kirsanov, D; SVK- Martin Chromiak, F; SWE- Helge Grans, D; USA- Brock Faber, D
Minnesota Wild (6): CAN- Carson Lambos, D; Ryan O’Rourke, D; CZE- Pavel Novak, F; RUS- Marat Khusnutdinov, F; SWE- Jesper Wallstedt, G; USA- Jack Peart, D
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
