WJC Scouting

Bonus scouting from the Under-20 World Junior Championships in Grand Forks, Thief River Falls, USA.

Sergei Kostitsyn - RW (Belarus) .. It seemed as if he and older brother Andrei were trying to one-up each other shift after shift .. shows a consistent, dedicated effort .. strong, feisty physical game with some nicely timed hits .. solid defensive game and a flourishing offensive side .. showed tremendous stickhandling wizardry, blowing past Phil Kessel with a quick first step and a head of steam .. gets agitated when cheap shots are aimed at his goaltender .. somewhat quiet against Slovakia but picked up his play physically against the Germans after Andrei left the game with an injury .. best move was when he skated up the boards, cut to center and unleashed a shot with two Germans draped all over him .. grinds and mucks for the puck, consistently winning puck battles .. always involved in the action and shows impressive endurance; layed out a big check at the end of a long shift.

Viachaslav Shypila - D (Belarus) .. Rangy skater with nice size .. light and balanced with a nice spring to his stride .. long reach; uses his stick well to obstruct the puck carrier .. made some intelligent interventions, blocked passes .. first choice for key defensive assignments; used to defend 5-on-3 penalty kill .. shows defensive smarts .. defended one-on-one against Hensick effectively; forced him outside and around net .. doesn't panic under pressure, nor try to overhandle the puck .. could use muscle all over, particularly leg strength; should improve quickness as he is a solid technical skater .. delivered a vicious elbow to an opponent who was about to go for the puck .. raw physical game .. looks willing to use the solidly-built frame but doesn't do it consistently .. made neat little stutter step against puck pursuer and dished a smooth backhand outlet pass; showed good poise and imagination .. did make a smart decision on a rare powerplay appearance, holding his position at the point and stopping an attempted clearance.

Teemu Laakso - D (Finland) .. Sacrificed his body to block shots .. with linemates out of gas after a long penalty kill shift, he still had enough in the tank to catch up to the opponent coming out of the box to prevent a scoring chance .. makes strong, accurate outlet passes .. hard, low slap shot .. stronger than he looks and uses upper body effectively .. was burned to the side by Robert Nilsson on the power play for a shorthanded marker.

Tuukka Rask - G (Finland) .. Very square with his pads in front of the puck .. accutely aware of players trying to set up behind and around him .. appeared to be really zoned in on the puck against the Czechs, great focus and composure .. anticipates the game instinctively, seems to know what is going to happen even on screened attempts .. gained more confidence with every shot he faced .. made a lot of difficult saves look easy .. steers long shots to the side effortlessly .. thrived with increased work load.

Marcus Kink - C (Germany) .. Team captain moves with a short, choppy wheel-spinning style of skating to get to full speed .. quick stick in traffic .. able to take the body, and with authority as he did on Vadim Karaga against Belarus, but could still be more consistent in that facet .. gets into scrums and fires his team up .. made a beautiful set-up for a goal along the boards into the slot.

Andre Reiss - C (Germany) .. Inconsistent forward had some effective shifts but did not maintain focus and looked lost on others .. waits instead of making things happen .. often took short shifts .. thinks offense at all times even on the PK and in his own zone .. one shift against Canada consisted of a slash (no call), a cherry pick at the red line and then another slash (no call) at the end of a short shift .. similarly wild against the Swiss .. wildly fought for the puck in early stages of the game but was later unnerved and made a poor pass that resulted in an icing .. made an exceptional pass from behind the net into the slot to set up a linemate for a scoring chance .. failed to convert at point-blank range .. again looked slow and offense-minded against Belarus .. was, however, the hero in that game, scoring a bad-angle goal that wound up to be the winner.

Youri Ziffzer - G (Germany) .. Failed to anticipate a criss-cross passing play, with the puck eventually ending up on Sidney Crosby's stick for a sure goal .. a little slow to react to some shots against the Swiss, when the cross bar was his best friend .. weak area is lateral movement, as he payed several times for struggling to get side-to-side .. stays deep in the net and does not challenge the shooter, though was slightly more aggressive at that against Belarus .. must work on his rebounds but has quick enough legs to make excellent recovery stops.

Marek Zagrapan - C (Slovakia) .. Showed nice chemistry with linemate Ladislav Scurko .. played in all special teams situations .. does a lot of great low-key things like the drop pass and screen .. best shift was in the second period against Belarus on the power play when he barrelled and weaved his way through traffic for a scoring chance .. cerebral and nifty quick on his feet .. picked off an attempted Swiss dump in, allowing teammate Boris Valabik to pinch for a scoring chance .. hard working forechecker and backchecker .. aggressive at attacking the opponent with the puck.

Nicklas Bergfors - RW (Sweden) .. Was quiet against Canada .. the kind of player that requires repeated viewings to properly assess at times .. pivots well on his skates .. looks for the offensive opportunity even in defensive situations .. solid back checking against the United States .. was at his best against Finland; showed a great burst of speed that wowed the crowd .. goal in the second period was a simple chip in and was a result of a tussle in front of the net .. strong on the puck .. pulled a patented Forsberg move by banking the puck off the back of the net to fake out the defender and sneaking out to the front of the net for a shot on goal.

Sebastian Karlsson - LW (Sweden) .. Took a big hit from Mike Richards but shoot it off .. made a timely blocked shot in the first period of the game against Canada .. skates with long strides yet not as fast as he should be .. good upper body strength .. mellowed physically against USA .. waited for linemates to initiate things .. short shifts and hardly noticeable against Finland.

David Rautio - G (Sweden) .. His intestinal fortitude was challenged when he was thrown into the fray against team Canada after Heino-Lindberg was lit up for six goals .. was beaten twice himself on 16 shots .. aggressive and challenged the shooters against the United States .. struggled handling the puck, one miscue resulted in Kevin Porter's marker .. uses his stick to cover the bottom of the net well .. against Finland he looked small and slow and somewhat stiff .. much less dexterous than Heino-Lindberg.

Michael Tobler - G (Switzerland) .. Quietly was the backbone of Team Switzerland .. stats were not impressive however seeing him in action is a different story .. consistent in all situations, of various game paces .. does not wander too far from his crease .. his calmness in traffic is impressive .. showed competitive spirit, desperately waiving to the bench at the end of a game to get off the ice for an extra attacker .. has no reservations about hacking and slashing to clear the crease .. only got better, shot after shot; flurry after flurry .. the better the scoring chance, the easier he made the save look.

Phil Kessel - C (USA) .. The bright light on team USA's turmoil and disarray .. supreme skater, stickhandler with a pro-quality shooting arsenal .. jaw-dropping highlight reel moves, highlighted by a hat-trick performance against the Swedish team in the quarter final .. outstanding determination and exceptional physical strength for a player his age .. excellent energy and blazing end-to-end mobility .. quarterbacked the power play .. not a major factor in the semi-final against Russia aside from a couple of chances; was shut down in a more tense, physical game .. will get stronger and more muscular for next year's tournament .. still must get sturdier on the puck and do more dirty work in pursuit of the puck.

Brian Lee - D (USA) .. Was in over his head whenever he did play but this was not unexpected considering the quality and age of the competition .. paired up with different guys, which probably added to the confusion .. played most against the Swiss when he showed excellent promise .. stayed focused and planted defending a breakaway and kept his composure after losing his stick on the play .. overstayed his welcome on some shifts .. a bit awkward and nervous against Belarus .. backwards skating was somewhat wild .. did not move the puck to showcase what is one of his best traits.