Rasmus Ristolainen, who scored the golden goal midway through overtime to give Finland a 3-2 victory against Sweden in the gold medal game at the 2014 IIHF World Junior Championship on Sunday, was also awarded the Directorate Award for best defenseman at the 11-day event.
Ristolainen finished the tournament with three goals and a plus-1 rating in five games. He was sidelined early in the tournament with the flu, but certainly made up for lost time when it mattered most as the Finns celebrated their first gold medal since 1998.
The Directorate's Most Valuable Player Award and Top Forward Award were given to Sweden center Filip Forsberg, who finished with four goals, 12 points and a plus-3 rating. The Nashville Predators prospect is the first Swede to be honored as an MVP since the awards were introduced in 2004.
The Directorate's top goalie was Sweden's Oscar Dansk, who won five games and lost to Finland in the gold-medal match. He finished with a 1.79 goals-against average, .928 save percentage and one shutout.
In addition to the Directorate Awards, the media also selected a WJC All-Star Team. Forsberg is the only member of the media All-Star Team to be a repeat selection. He was also chosen among the top three forwards after the 2013 WJC in Ufa, Russia.
2014 Media All-Star Team:
G-Juuse Saros, Finland
D-Nikita Zadorov, Russia
D-Rasmus Ristolainen, Finland
F-Anthony Mantha, Canada
F-Teuvo Teravainen, Finland
F-Filip Forsberg, Sweden
MVP-Filip Forsberg, Sweden
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