At the beginning of December, we wrote about how Winnipeg Jets prospects were named to their respective country’s preliminary roster for the 2022 World Junior Championship that begins at the end of this month in Alberta, Canada.
Those prospects are Cole Perfetti, Chaz Lucius, Nikita Chibrikov, and Daniel Torgersson. Perfetti plays for the Manitoba Moose (AHL), Lucius competes for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers (NCAA-USA), Chibrikov plays for SKA-Neva St. Petersburg (VHL-Russia), and Torgersson plays for AIK (HockeyAllsvenskan-Sweden)
There has been an extremely positive update regarding these three players and their hopes of playing in this prestigious tournament.
All of these Winnipeg Jets prospects have made the final roster of their respective countries
Cole Perfetti was named to Team Canada’s roster, while Chaz Lucius was named to Team USA’s roster, Nikita Chibrikov was named to Team Russia’s roster, and Daniel Torgersson was named to Team Sweden’s roster.
This will be Perfetti’s second time competing at the WJC. He is without a doubt looking for redemption in this tournament after losing in the Gold Medal Game to the United States last year.
On the other hand, Lucius, Chibrikov, and Torgersson will be making their WJC debuts. Lucius is looking to help the United States repeat as back-to-back champions for the first time, while Chibrikov and Russia will be looking to win Gold for the first time since 2011, and Torgersson and Sweden are also looking to end their 10-year Gold drought.
The Format
This tournament consists of ten countries that will be split up into two groups of five teams each. Each team will play every country in their group once. The top four teams of each group will advance to the quarterfinals, where they will match up against a team from the other group. The quarterfinals, semifinals, and Gold Medal Game are all single-elimination matchups.
Will we see a matchup of Winnipeg prospects?
Lucius, Torgersson, and Chibrikov will be in the same group (Group B), which means that we will see all three of these players face off against one another.
On the opening day of the competition, Sweden and Torgersson will take on Chibrikov and Russia. Then on December 29, the U.S.A will play against Sweden. Finally, Lucius and Chibrikov will match up against each other when the USA faces off against Russia in the final preliminary game of the tournament on New Year’s Eve.
After the USA versus Russia game, the only other chance of seeing a game between two Jets prospects will then be in the playoff round of the tournament.
For all news regarding the World Junior Championship, including the teams and schedule, you can visit the official tournament page by clicking the link here.
Winnipeg Jets Fans: Out of the three Winnipeg prospects that will be competing at the WJC, which prospect do you predict will have the most points? Leave your comments below!