U18s Dominate Finland in Semis

Yesterday I talked about the potential match-up between  Finland's high-scoring top line and the United States' stellar defense, and it seems pretty obvious who won that match-up, as the US team cruised to a 5-0 victory over the Finns. They'll face the winner of the Sweden-Russia game which is just getting underway.

The win is the second straight shutout for Jack Campbell in the playoff round, and guarantees the US at least a silver medal.

In regards to the NHL Draft, Jon Merrill may be making a late push into the conversation about the best defenseman available. It will be interesting to see how the poor tournament affects guys like Erik Gudbranson.

Also, I didn't see the game today, but the result does very little to change my impression of Finland's Mikael Granlund being a guy that racks up a lot of points, but disappears in big spots. I'm maybe one of the few people that doesn't have him in the top 10 for the draft. Conversely, Teemu Pulkkinen is a kid that I thought was very under-rated in the draft, and being one of this tournament's leading scorers probably brings him back into the first round conversation again, though the way the tournament ended for him today probably doesn't help.

Here are the highlights of today's game: