Pressure.
That in a word sums up one of the most pressing dynamics of the 2003 World Junior Hockey Championship, which start Boxing Day -- Dec. 26 -- in Halifax and Sydney, Nova Scotia, on Canada's east coast.
For 10 days, the top junior-age players in the world square off in a best-on-best competition for world supremacy, and the pressure points mount as the tournament heads toward the gold medal game on Jan. 5.
The way the World Juniors works is this: The 10 teams are split into two groups, with the United States, Russia, Slovakia, Belarus and Switzerland being on one side of the ledger sheet, while Canada, Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Germany make up the other group.
The top four teams from each group advance to the medal round, and the bottom two teams square off for the right to remain in the world A Pool rankings. The loser drops to the B Pool, and is replaced next year by whoever wins the B Pool tournament. Teams competing for the right to advance to the 2004 World Juniors include Austria, Norway, Denmark, Slovenia, Poland and Latvia.
For the players in Halifax and Sydney, the pressure comes in all shapes and forms and it varies from day to day.
The pressure is on Canada to end its five-year drought of not winning gold. There's pressure on Russia to defend its title, just as there is pressure on Finnish goalie Kari Lehtonen to live up to the hype that's preceded his arrival on this side of the Atlantic. There's pressure on the Czechs to return to the podium, and the heat is on the United States to show that its hothouse approach to building junior prospects is worth the effort. And there's pressure on not to finish dead last and be demoted.
 World Juniors
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If that's not enough, the players have the added pressure of plying their wares in front of dozens of NHL scouts and general managers. Every club will have at least three scouts at the tournament and a majority of GMs will take in some part of the event. It goes with the territory when you pit the world's best teenage hockey players against each other. The NHL's bloodhounds will watch the potential draft picks test their skills in the crucible of battle not inherent on a daily basis in league play -- be it the college scene in the United States, or junior play in Canada or Europe.
"It does not give you the ultimate answer (about their NHL potential) but it is part of their whole development process," says Carolina GM Jim Rutherford about assessing the field at the World Juniors. "This is a learning experience for the player because they are playing at the highest level they can play at up to that point in their careers."
What this amounts to is pressure, pressure, and more pressure.
"Every team has pressure and it does not matter who you are," adds Columbus Blue Jackets coach Dave King, who coached Canada's entry in the World Juniors in 1982 and 1983. "No one is immune to pressure and everybody has a certain amount of pressure. There are obviously some countries that have more than others, Canada being one of them because they are the host country and we have not won in five years."
The World Juniors is a much more forgiving format now than it was when King represented his country. Back then, the tournament format was a round-robin, with eight teams playing seven games apiece and whoever had the best record were world champs and often the championship was decided before the tournament was over. The World Juniors now has a sudden-death medal round and if a contender stumbles in the round-robin, it can still recover, much like Olympic champion Team Canada did at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
"All you want to be doing is playing the last day of the tournament," says King. "There is no point in talking about it until you get there."
Here's a look at the 10 teams competing in the 2003 World Junior Championship:
RUSSIA
2002 Record: 5-2-0, gold medal.
The Russians will be worth watching simply to watch teenage sensation Alexander Ovechkin, who is touted to have the skill of Ilya Kovalchuk of the Atlanta Thrashers and the feistiness of Owen Nolan of San Jose. Ovechkin, who isn't eligible for the NHL Entry Draft until 2004, is a magician with the puck and he has been a scoring threat playing for Moscow Dynamo in Russia's top league.
What will be worth watching is whether goalie Andrei Medvedev is in rare form. Nutrition is not a word you would associate with the portly Medvedev, but he's all business when he's on the job. He was Calgary's third pick in the 2001 Entry Draft.
Russia will bring plenty of skill to the NHL table, and at least three first-round draft picks last June in Alexander Semin (13th overall by Washington), Denis Grebeshkov (18th overall by Washington) and Anton Babchuk (21st overall by Chicago) will be in Nova Scotia.
CANADA
2002 Record: 5-2-0, silver medal.
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Bouchard was the top player in the major junior Canadian Hockey League last season and he could wind up being one of the top five forwards in the tournament.
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There are no real superstars on Canada's roster, but there are some players worthy of note.
One is Pierre-Marc Bouchard, who is on loan from the Minnesota Wild. He was the top player in the major junior Canadian Hockey League last season and he could wind up being one of the top five forwards in the tournament.
Bouchard is not the only player with NHL experience. Steve Eminger is on loan from Washington, while Scottie Upshall appeared in eight games for Nashville before he was sent back to the junior ranks, and Carlo Colaiacovo was with the Toronto Maple Leafs for about a month before being returned to his junior team.
The Canadians also have a top prospect for the 2003 in net in Marc-Andre Fleury, who is considered the top goalie available in this year's Entry Draft.
Canada's heart and desire is always a trump card used in tournaments like the World Junior. Playing at home in front of packed crowds will either bring out the best in these Canadian kids or they'll crack from the weight on their shoulders.
FINLAND
2002 Record: 5-2-0, bronze medal.
The Finns can't be counted out simply because goaltender Kari Lehtonen could win this tournament by himself. The second-overall pick by the Thrashers last June had 1.81 goals-against average along with a .932 save percentage through 30 of 32 games with Jokerit of Finland's top league.
Center Jussi Jokinen, who was Finland's leading scorer last year with two goals and eight points, is back for a second year, but the Finns suffered a blow when Mikko Koivu, who is the brother of Montreal's Saku Koivu, suffered an ankle injury and will miss the tournament. Another player to watch it Tuomo Ruutu, who is a Chicago prospect.
The Finns also have a great prospect in defenseman Joni Pitkanen, who was the fourth overall pick by Philadelphia in June. Some scouts are projecting he'll play for the Flyers next season.
SWITZERLAND
2002 Record: 3-4-0, fourth place.
The Swiss pumped a load of money into their development programs a couple of years ago and the effort is paying dividends.
Goalie Tobias Stephane is key to any Swiss success. He was taken in the second round by the Dallas Stars last season and is a solid prospect in net.
One thing to remember is this: The majority of this Swiss team has been together for a few years. Two years ago, most of these players were on a Swiss team that beat Finland and then lost a close one to Russia in the final of an under-18 tournament.
UNITED STATES
2002 Record: 4-1-2, fifth place.
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Another player worth watching is Team USA's Eric Nystrom, who was Calgary's top pick, 10th overall, last June.
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Zach Parise of the University of North Dakota is not a chip off the old block. His father is former NHLer J.P. Parise, who was not known for soft hands, but Zach is. He is the top scorer in the U.S. college ranks.
Another player worth watching is Eric Nystrom, who was Calgary's top pick, 10th overall, last June. He is the son of four-time Stanley Cup champion Bob Nystrom of the New York Islanders.
The Americans look like they have their goaltending solved in Jim Howard of the University of Maine, who is having an outstanding freshman year. He went into the Christmas break with a 8-1 record with a 1.53 goals-against average and a .942 save percentage.
The Americans have all the right ingredients to be a dark horse medal winner.
SWEDEN
2002 Record: 3-2-2, sixth place.
The Swedes have not had great success at the World Juniors, which is odd considering this is the country which has produced Colorado's Peter Forsberg, Toronto's Mats Sundin, Nicklas Lidstrom of Detroit and Markus Naslund of Vancouver to mention a few NHL stars.
The Swedes will look to the sons of two former NHLers to carry them offensively.
One is Alexander Steen, who the son of former NHLer Thomas Steen. Alexander, who was born in Canada, was a first-round selection by the Toronto Maple Leafs last June and he plays for top-ranked Vastra Frolunda of Sweden's Elite League.
The other player is Calgary-born Robert Nilsson, who is the son of Stanley Cup winner Kent Nilsson. He plays for Leksand of the Elite League.
CZECH REPUBLIC
2002 Record: 2-5-0, seventh place.
The Czechs have an outstanding forward in pint-sized Jiri Hudler, who is tearing up the Czech Republic's top league. Detroit's top pick (58th overall) in the 2002 Entry Draft was second in scoring with 19 goals and 46 points after 30 games in the Czech top league.
The Czechs are usually a tight-knit group, but friction has emerged between the junior players who skate for North American teams and the ones who stay back in the Czech Republic. This is where Coach Jaroslav Holik -- who is the father of Bobby Holik of the New York Rangers ? will have his toughest assignment.
SLOVAKIA
2002 Record: 2-3-2, eighth place.
Slovakia may have won the Senior World Championships last spring, but they are years from becoming a contender on the junior stage. They are still paying a price for not having a strategy to develop goalies following the split of Czechoslovakia in the mid-1990s.
The player to watch is Igor Pohanka of the Prince Alberta Raiders of the Western Hockey League. He is a speedy playmaking center who will be back for his second World Junior tournament. He is a second-round pick (44th overall) by New Jersey in 2001 who was sent to Anaheim as part of the Jeff Friesen, Petr Sykora deal.
BELARUS
2002 Record: 1-6-0, ninth place.
Belarus is a project in the making. The Belarus government has embarked on an expansion plan to triple the number of arenas in the country and solidify its development programs.
One player of note is Andrei Kastsitsyn. He scored three goals when Belarus beat Canada 5-3 at the World U18 championships in April. Since then he has moved to Moscow where he plays for Viktor Tikhonov's Red Army team. He's a shifty and gifted scorer who can burn you with his hands or his speed.
GERMANY
2002 Record: 7-0, won B Pool to advance to A Pool.
Marcel Goc was the top pick, 20th overall, by the San Jose Sharks in 2001 and the pressure will be on to show that he has brought his game up a couple of notches. He plays for Adler Mannheim in Germany's top league and that's a big accomplishment because he is one of about a handful of junior players to make the jump to the top league.
Germany's junior program will struggle as long as the country's top league continues to stymie the development of junior-age players. Coaches in top league are impatient when it comes to development.
