Vegas Golden Knights: World Junior Championships recap

We are two days into the 2020 IIHF World Junior Championships and it has been a fairly uneventful start to the tournament for Vegas Golden Knights prospects.

The event, which is hosted by the Czech Republic, got underway on Thursday with the Vegas Golden Knights having three players represent the franchise.

Goaltender Isaiah Saville is on the Team USA roster, while forwards Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Morozov were picked by Team Russia for the tournament.

As already mentioned, we’re only a couple of days into the tournament which runs into January, but let’s take a look at how the trio of Vegas prospects have been getting on in the Czech Republic…

Isaiah Saville

Team USA have played two games in the tournament’s opening two days with mixed results, dropping the opener 6-4 to Team Canada before bouncing back by beating Germany 6-3 today.

However, Vegas prospect Isaiah Saville didn’t feature in either game and the goaltender was also a healthy scratch for both games.

Spencer Knight, the 13th overall pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft by the Florida Panthers, got the first game allowing six goals from the 31 shots he faced.

Team USA’s second game of the tournament against Team Germany earlier today was started by Dustin Wolf, who was drafted by the Calgary Flames in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft with the 214th overall pick.

And it was a more memorable outing for Wolf compared to Knight, with the former making 17 saves in a 6-3 win for Team USA.

Next up for Team USA is Team Russia on Dec. 29, and it will be interesting to see if Isaiah Saville gets his first start of the tournament against his fellow two Golden Knights prospects.

Pavel Dorofeyev, Ivan Morozov

Team Russia has played just one game at the 2020 World Championships in Czech Republic, a 4-3 loss to the hosts on the opening day of the tournament.

Czech Republic raced into a two-goal lead in the first period and, although Team Russia tied it up heading into the second, Jan Jenik scored what proved to be the go-ahead goal late in the middle frame.

Both Dorofeyev and Morozov were held without a point in that game, although Morozov logged 18:25 minutes of total ice time while Dorofeyev recorded 16:04 minutes.

Team Russia are back in action on Saturday when they faceoff against Team Canada in Group B, where Dorofeyev and Morozov will be hoping to register their first points of the tournament.