Vegas Golden Knights: Two prospects in WJC Semi-Finals
The Vegas Golden Knights will have two out of three prospects in action in the 2020 World Junior Championship Semi-Finals on Saturday.
It was a mixed day on Thursday for the Vegas Golden Knights who saw one prospect suffer heartbreak in the WJC Quarter-Finals, while the other two tasted pure jubilation.
Let’s start with Team USA. Although prospect goalie Isaiah Saville, who was picked 135th overall by the Golden Knights in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, didn’t dress yet again on Thursday, he would have been disappointed not to have advanced.
And, in what was a tightly-contested affair, Team USA couldn’t get the better of the returning champions in Team Finland who stamped their ticket to the Semi-Finals.
Joonas Oden beat Team USA goaltender Spencer Knight in the third period to record the only goal of the game, ensuring a disappointing ending to the tournament for Saville and the rest of Team USA.
It was a much better day for two more Vegas Golden Knights prospects, however, as Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Morozov helped Team Russia advance to the Semi-Finals.
Arguably one of the most dangerous teams left in the tournament, Team Russia will now take on Sweden in the first Semi-Final on Saturday with Team Canada taking on Team Finland in the other Semi-Final.
ICYMI: Watch Voronkov score twice to give @russiahockey the advantage over @swissicehockey and punch their ticket to the semi-finals. #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/56w6elYdMg
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) January 2, 2020
Back to the Quarter-Final, though, and Team Russia landed the first blow of the night against Switzerland in the second period thanks to Dmitri Voronkov.
Gaetan Jobin did make it a tied game but that was the only fightback Team Switzerland could offer up, with Alexandar Khovanov scoring the go-ahead goal before Voronkov iced the game with his second goal of the contest late in the second period.
Both Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Morozov were held without a point with Dorofeyev going into the Semi-Finals with three points (three goals), while Morozov has tallied just one assist.
Team Russia will be many people’s favorites to go on and win the 2020 World Junior Championships, and the Vegas Golden Knights will no doubt be eager to see just how much of an impact their two prospects make.
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We will have a full update on Team Russia’s Semi-Final showdown with Team Sweden on Saturday.