Bronze Good enough for the Johnsons

Despite losing the semifinal on a heartbreaking penalty shot-shootout against Canada, the two American defensive prodigies, Erik Johnson and Jack Johnson, were both still fairly content with at least leaving Sweden with a medal around their necks.

After having huge problems to get things going early on in the tournament, USA eventually found a way to win as their big guns started to get things going. Two of the absolutely biggest guns were the blue line giants Erik and Jack Johnson. The prolific Erik Johnson actually ended up as the tournament's top scorer with his four goals and six assists in seven games – the first time in World Junior history that title went to a defenseman.

"We didn't play as a team early on in the tournament and it took some time to get the chemistry going. But as the tournament went on, we managed to gel as a group and ended up being fairly successful", said Erik Johnson.

A bronze medal game might be perceived as the two semifinal losers fighting over leftovers, but as always in hockey, you always prefer to end up winning rather than losing; a sentiment which Erik Johnson certainly agrees with.

"Personally I would much rather win a bronze medal as opposed to losing the final and ending up with the silver. I consider this one of the greatest times in my life, I'm really proud", he said after the bronze medal game against Sweden, where he scored the game winning goal with a point shot on the power play.

This was Erik Johnson's second consecutive World Junior Championships and also quite possibly his last one, despite having a year left on his junior eligibility. Chances are of course that the St. Louis Blues want their first overall pick in the lineup by this fall.

"I try not to think about that right now. If the Blues are interested in signing me, then I will of course consider it. But right now, I have some soul searching to do to find out whether or not I'm ready to take that step".

Expect the St. Louis Blues to try their best to convince Erik Johnson that he is ready for taking the next step in what already is an impressive career.

Ignoring the boo's

Even the blind could notice when Jack Johnson entered the ice in Leksand or Mora. Because every single time he did, he was greeted with boo's from the many Canadian fans on site for the tournament. This all due to his allegedly foul hit on Canada's pest winger and fan favorite Steve Downie last year. Despite being a marked man, the 19-year old handled the pressure in a cool fashion, scoring two penalty shot goals in the semifinal against Canada, as well as the game winning goal in overtime against Sweden in the group stage – the goal that brought USA to the medal round.

"I only noticed it when I was on the bench or in the penalty box. I guess there are always people with nothing better to do", a smiling Johnson commented on the Canadian fans and their behaviour.

Just like Erik Johnson, Jack Johnson is happy to see that the American team managed to make the tournament end on a good note, with a 2-1 victory over Sweden in the bronze medal game.

"It was good for us to end with a win and it was great to see that we were able to bounce back after the tough loss against Canada the other day", he said after the bronze game.

Jack Johnson was clearly overshadowed by Erik Johnson in terms of offensive output in this tournament, but when it came to managing to play under pressure and before an always hostile crowd, no one handled it better than Jack Johnson in Leksand and Mora.