As the preliminary round of the 2021 World Junior Champion came to a close on New Year’s Eve, the scores were a reminder that the early games at this event are often such mismatches in terms of skill and talent depth that you can’t really tell who is good until the one or two tough matches scheduled for the end.
Both Finland, who had looked very strong in a weak group, and Sweden got rolled over by Canada and USA. Add in the overtime win by Russia over Sweden the day before, and it seems like this is a tournament that will fall to a North American team.