The NHL Network will air every game of the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden.
It includes comprehensive coverage of the United States National Junior Team (2-0-0-0), which will play the second of four preliminary-round games in Group B against Czechia at Frolundaborg on Friday (11 a.m. ET). The United States also will play Slovakia (Dec. 31). The playoff round begins Jan. 2.
Longtime NCAA hockey analyst Dave Starman, who will handle the broadcasts along with E.J. Hradek, Jon Rosen and Jon Morosi, will give his three keys to victory for the United States before each of its games during the 11-day tournament.
"After a win against Switzerland, the U.S. gets a test vs. Czechia," Starman said. "After an opening loss to Slovakia, Czechia has a chance to get to two wins as they get the U.S. in the second of a back-to-back. Czechia doesn't have the U.S. depth, but they play hard, play smart, and its power play can be very good."
Here are Starman's 3 keys to victory for the United States against Czechia:
1. Zoning out
"The United States out-chanced Norway 20-8 in Game 1 but those eight chances, as one member of the coaching staff said, 'were eight pretty good Grade A chances.' Against Switzerland, the coverage at times was a little soft. Ahead by seven (goals), you can understand where a team might lose a little of the serrated edge you need to play with in a 3-3 game, but the general feeling is they still need to establish a harder-to-play-against defensive identity. This would be the game it could start to show that."
2. Doing the little things
"The barrage of goals against Switzerland was great, it's only natural to wonder if everyone is a little high on the hog after this one. That's a level that is hard to sustain and it won't and shouldn't be that easy vs. Czechia. That being said, the U.S., offensively, is just plain scary. While the Swiss goalies were a little overmatched, the chances generated by the U.S. were pretty impressive. The case can be made, they should be as good if not better than any opponent they play, offensively. The thing to watch here, can they start to strike that balance of rush offense vs. sandpaper offense? One thing they have been excellent at is being first on loose pucks and being above pucks; those are winning habits."
3. Perfecting the playbook
"The power play is evolving and assistant coach Brett Larson, who is running it, told me it's looking on ice the way they have structured it on paper. They players have grabbed the concepts and have run with it and when you watch a guy like Cutter Gauthier (Philadelphia Flyers), a pure shooter, distributing pucks from his off wing to the slot instead of just firing away, you know you have a good thing going as a dual threat. Gauthier and Jimmy Snuggerud (St. Louis Blues) on opposite off-wing flanks is almost unfair. Five-on-five, the U.S. is really good. At 5-on-4, they can dictate the tourney."
