Flames at 2018 World Juniors: USA wins ugly in outdoor game

Another chapter was written in the extensive, and often bitter, hockey history between the United States and Canada at New Era Field in Buffalo, New York on Friday afternoon.

For the first time ever, there was an outdoor game at the World Juniors. For the second time in as many World Junior meetings, Canada blew a lead and lost to the United States in a shootout. This time, it was a snowy mess of a game.

A pair of Calgary Flames prospects were prominently featured throughout this one.

Adam Fox has been a very important player for the United States throughout this tournament. He doesn’t get on the scoresheet a ton, but he plays a lot in every situation. He’s seen his ice time ratchet up in every game thus far: 17:33 against Denmark, 21:17 against Slovakia last night and 26:00 against Canada.

He was on the ice for all three American goals during Friday’s comeback victory and was always the first player out in every situation. Power play? Fox goes out first. Big penalty kill? There’s Fox. Three-on-three overtime? Fox again. While the conditions made for really scrambly, jumpy hockey, once again Fox has shown a knack for calming things down and moving things in the right direction for the USA whenever he’s on the ice.

Dillon Dube also had a strong game for Canada. Just like Fox, Dube has been a huge contributor to his team’s successes despite not hitting the scoresheet in every game. Here, Dube chipped in offensively with a nice power-play goal to make it 2-0 Canada.

Just like Fox, Dube was the first player up for Canada in virtually every situation. When they had one forward they could trot out late in the second period to defend a five-on-three power play for the USA, Dube was that forward. (When the USA scored, it was after Dube had cleared the zone and switched off for teammate Maxime Comtois). He got tons of ice time, playing 22:12 – third on the team and most of all Canadian forwards.

He seemed to get a bit, uh, tenderized late in the third on a collision with Fox behind the American net.

Dube, who has been bothered by a shoulder injury through the recent weeks in the WHL, recovered on the bench and played in overtime. Hopefully he won’t feel any ill-effects of the collision, as Canada has one last game tomorrow against Denmark to close out the round robin.

After four days of the preliminary round, it’s worth repeating: Fox and Dube are really, really good junior-aged players.