Calgary Flames prospects at World Juniors 2018 – Day six

The last day to end 2017 meaning we’ve got some more World Juniors and some Calgary Flames prospects playing in the tournament. Let’s check out what happened.

Five Calgary Flames prospects played on New Year’s Eve. All but Dillon Dube were playing to signify their spots in the quarter-finals and the matchups are now set. Dube with Team Canada already clinched their spot as the top team in Group A. Let’s check out what happened in the NYE games.

The first game for Flames prospects was Juuso Valimaki, captain of Team Finland with Eetu Tuulola facing off against Adam Fox and Team USA. The score ended 5-4 for the States with some important points from Fox. While he didn’t get the player of the game, he was close. He had two assists, one coming on the powerplay, and the late game-winning goal that came with less than two minutes remaining in the game that gave the States a 5-4 lead which is how they finished off. He now has four points in four games at the tournament.

Fox was also on the ice for just one goal against from Finland, had five shots, and put up 20:15 minutes of ice-time. The highest among the defencemen on the team and third highest on the team.

Related Story: Flames prospects at World Juniors 2018 - Day five

Valimaki and Tuulola, on the other hand, had average games. Valimaki had one assist, two shots, and put up 22:31 minutes of ice-time – second on the team to his defensive partner, Miro Heiskanen. Tuulola had one shot, put up 12:35 minutes of ice-time, and wasn’t on the ice for any goals for or against. He seems like a decent middle-forward.

Next game was Adam Ruzicka for Team Slovakia vs. Team Denmark. Slovakia won 5-1 to secure a spot in the quarter-finals. Ruzicka had one assist, but he also helped his line with another goal, just didn’t show up on the scoresheet for that one. He finished the game being +2, put one shot on net, and had 17:32 minutes of ice-time. That’s quite a bit of minutes for a third-line forward, but understandable, seeing how that line has been one of Slovakia’s most dependable. He actually had the most amount of ice-time among all Slovak forwards and only second on the team. He’s been a very dependable winger for Slovakia.

Last, but certainly not least, we have Linus Lindstrom for Team Sweden against Team Russia. Sweden won 4-3 in the shootout to finish first in Group B with 11 points in four games. Lindstrom had one assist, four shots, and had 16:30 minutes of ice-time, the third highest among forwards. He was also one of the two Swedes to score in the shootout which helped give them the win. In OT, he had two shots and had 1:17 minutes of ice-time – the highest among forwards.

Now we’ve got the matchups set for the quarter-finals!

Canada will play Switzerland. Which the Swiss coach wasn’t too excited about.

The winner between those two will play the winner between the Czech Republic and Team Finland. Then we have Sweden and Slovakia playing, and the winner from that matchup will play the winner between Team USA and Team Russia. All six Calgary Flames prospects at the World Juniors have made it to the quarter-finals. A minimum of one prospect will make it to the Semis with a possibility of having five prospects make it.

Calgary’s got a great future.

Next: The Flames need to consider a shake up

That’s all for this update! This went up a little later than normal, but I mean, it’s New Years Day, I think we can let this one slide.