2022 World Junior Championship Primer: Take II

RALEIGH, NC. -The rescheduled 2022 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Junior Championship will begin tomorrow in Edmonton, Alberta.

Carolina will have four prospects representing three countries,
after originally having 10 slated to play in the first attempt
of the event in December.
Russia was disqualified from the tournament by the IIHF, thus stripping away the opportunity for Nikita Guslistov, Alexander Pashin and Vasily Ponomarev. Sweden's Zion Nybeck and Joel Nystrom, as well as United States' Scott Morrow, are also unavailable for the second go-round of games, thus notching the Canes down to the quartet of players.

Ronan Seeley - Canada (D)

Seeley concluded his junior hockey career this past season, captaining the Everett Silvertips while also producing 44 points in 52 games from the blue line.
A 2020 seventh-round selection by Carolina, the 20-year-old with tremendous vision is likely to be in Chicago (AHL) for the 2022-23 campaign, but not before representing his country on home soil.

Nikita Quapp - Germany (G)

The lone member of the batch that was able to attend Prospect Development Camp in July, Quapp was limited to just 11 games played during the 2021-22 season.
Operating as the third goaltender for Krefeld of the German League, the 19-year-old was also the presumed number one for Germany back in December - playing in their tournament-opening game against Finland. He also played in the team's pre-tournament game against Slovakia last week, indicating that he'll likely be featured in net again this time, too.

Aleksi Heimosalmi - Finland (D)

The middle of three second-round picks in Carolina's 2021 draft, Heimosalmi played 47 games in Finland's top league as a 19-year-old last season.
Back in December he was the only 2003-born defenseman on Finland's roster - an impressive feat for a nation with strong talent. Seen as a smooth skating blueliner, the right-handed shot was voted as the best defenseman at the Under-18 World Juniors in 2021 as well. Now he'll have the chance to show the Under-20 circuit what he's got.

Ville Koivunen - Finland (F)

Koivunen had an impressive start to the tournament in December before COVID-19 shut things down, posting four points in his first two games.
Perhaps even more impressive though was his first season playing against top-level competition in Finland, where he led all Liiga rookies with 29 points in 53 games. The hard-working and skilled forward will certainly have eyes on him over the next few weeks.

Schedule

Round robin games involving the above listed players will take place on the following days (all times listed EST):
Tuesday, August 9
Latvia vs. Finland - 6 p.m.
USA vs. Germany - 10 p.m.
Wednesday, August 10
Latvia vs. Canada - 6 p.m.
Germany vs. Austria - 10 p.m.
Thursday, August 11
Finland vs. Czechia - 2 p.m.
Slovakia vs. Canada - 6 p.m.
Saturday, August 13
Canada vs. Czechia - 6 p.m.
Germany vs. Switzerland - 10 p.m.
Sunday, August 14
Finland vs. Slovakia - 2 p.m.
Monday, August 15
Canada vs. Finland - 6 p.m.
Sweden vs. Germany - 10 p.m.
All games will be televised on NHL Network. Quarterfinal play will begin on Wednesday, August 17 and the championship is slated to be played on Saturday, August 20 at 6 p.m.
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