WJC roundup: Sandin Pellikka 3G + 1A; Augustine OK, Plante 1A in USA win, Kiiskinen plays 19:28 in Finnish loss

Of Red Wings prospect-related note at the World Junior Championship:

Axel Sandin Pellikka was the star of the World Juniors on Thursday, scoring a hat trick and an assist for 4 points, taking 11 shots and finishing at +3 in 20:55 played as Sweden won 5-2 over Slovakia. Sandin Pellikka spoke with IIHF.com’s Andrew Podnieks after the win:

“We have a lot of good defencemen who like to play with the puck, so it’s fun that we got some goals from there,” said Sandin Pellikka. “We played a good game overall, so we’re happy. We played with patience. We kept our cool. We had a lot of chances and knew pucks were going to go in soon enough, and they did.”

Coach Magnus Havelid weighed in as well, per HockeyNews.se’s Mattias Persson…

“He is our captain and shows the way. I think we show very good energy right through. There was a joy of playing throughout the team, and even when we got into a disadvantage, it felt calm on the bench. Somewhere we had prepared for it. You have to have respect for the resistance – they have some really good players and both teams were rested,” said manager Magnus Hävelid.

Expressen’s Tim Dahlbeka noted this from ASP...

“We knew it was going to start raining in some pucks,” the hat-trick hero told Viaplay.

There’s this from Aftonbladet’s Nihls Rahm…

“We sent a little message to the other teams that we are here to play hockey,” Sandin Pellikka told SVT after the game.

Aftonbladet’s Hans Abrahamsson went a little wild regarding the small sample size, too:

For me, the guy from Malmberg is a mix of a young Börje Salming and Erik Karlsson.

Salming’s bulliness and competitive instinct combined with Karlsson playfulness and playfulness.

Those are big words, I know, but I’m convinced ASP is our next back star in the NHL.

The Americans sort of “got through” Team USA’s 10-4 win over Germany. Trey Augustine stopped 18 of 22 shots, and Max Plante had an assist, finishing even in 10:15 played.

Coach David Carle spoke with IIHF.com’s Lukas Aykroyd after the game:

“When we had people on the inside, really good things happened,” said Carle. “Certainly, I think the bench breathed a little bit after getting through the kill and then getting that [Hagens] goal and ending the second period like that.”

USA Hockey’s website also posted a recap, as did NHL.com, and FloHockey’s Chris Peters discussed Trey Augustine’s performance:

Both goals against Augustine in the second period were uncharacteristic. He was so sharp in the first, taking care of a few chances with ease, but in the second, he got a piece of both pucks that ultimately beat him. He’s usually so composed and sure-handed, that those things tend not to happen. Perhaps the bright side is that those mistakes happened in a game that the team really didn’t have much of a problem in. Against better teams, those can haunt you. I’m sure Augustine will dial it back up for future starts.

He is the least of this team’s concerns, especially considering how rare it is for him to have back-to-back starts below par. 

And finally, Jesse Kiiskinen played on the Finns’ first line and was the “bumper” on the Finnish power play, but the Finnish Lions lost 4-0 to Canada to close out Thursday’s action. Kiiskinen finished at -1 in 19:28 played on Thursday.

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!