2021 World Championship Journal: Road to the Quarterfinals

Rangers forward Colin Blackwell is documenting his experience on and off the ice as he competes in the IIHF Men's Ice Hockey World Championship alongside fellow Blueshirts Kevin Rooney and Zac Jones. Follow along with his journey right here, and on Twitter (@NYRangers) and Instagram (@nyrangers).
The preliminary round is officially in the rearview mirror, and after seven games, Team USA is on top of Group B heading into the quarterfinals starting on Thursday.
I'm really proud of this group for the way we've taken care of business up to this point. We've got a great mix of guys here, and I don't really think anybody's worried about points or personal stats or anything along those lines - I think we have a common goal of just trying to win every single game that we can, and eventually hopefully winning a gold medal. Seven games in, we're one step closer to doing that. This is a unique and great opportunity for all of us, and I think we recognize that.
I also think that in just a short amount of time, the way we've come together as a team has kind of given us a blueprint for why our team has been so good, and it's showing up on the ice as well. Because we're in a bubble here in Riga, it's kind of forced our team to get together and hang out with each other a lot, so even though we've only been with each other for a short amount of time, I feel like I've been with these guys for a while now, and I think that has shown on the ice. We finished off preliminaries with three wins in four days against Norway, Germany and Italy, and it's put us in a great position as the top seed from our group. There are so many guys I could point to as reasons why we've been able to have so much success here in Riga. To be honest, all our efforts have been team efforts, and that's exactly what you want.

After our win against Norway over the weekend, I was kind of surprised to hear I'd been named Player of the Game. I kind of laughed because I didn't know if they had that wrong when my name was called - I hadn't scored or gotten a point in any of the games up to that point. I've been a little snakebitten, but at the end of the day, that doesn't really matter. We're getting the W's and we're climbing the ladder in this tournament. But for me to get that recognition, I guess, just goes to show that the defensive effort I've been putting forth - playing some PK, some big minutes - somebody's noticing that, so it means a lot to get recognized. Definitely was a shock for me, but definitely was an honor at the same time.
It's also been an honor to wear an A out here, too. Again, not something I was expecting going into the tournament, but to get named one of the assistant captains, it truly gave me the chills and the butterflies. I just kind of see my role as being one of the vocal leaders and trying to lead by example on the ice, and that's what I've been trying to do out here: whatever I can to help the team win.
Last weekend, when we played against Canada, I got a good look at Braden Schneider, who was drafted by the Rangers last October. I could see the poise that he has out there for such a young player - I don't know if I would have been ready at that age to participate in this tournament. He's out there holding his own, and you can tell he's such a good skater and he's got a great career ahead of him. Especially on the big ice, the way he moves and the way he skates and the confidence that he has at such a young age is definitely something you can notice, and I think that's really exciting for the future for the Rangers.
Outside of playing games, we haven't really been doing much out here - we're still in a bubble, so a lot of card games, a lot of ping pong, a lot of just hanging out, getting out to the terrace to hang out and eat when we can. The weather's been great here, and with it getting nicer out, there's a lot of people out and about, kind of buzzing around the city, and you can tell that they're pretty passionate about hockey out here.
We have about 24 hours until quarterfinals start, and the message that's been sent around the room is to take it one day at a time. Things change very quickly in this tournament and any team can win on any given night - you've seen some of the upsets and wild scores, so we're not getting ahead of ourselves. For us, the goal was just to finish off the preliminary round the best we could, take care of business and put ourselves in a great position moving forward.
That's what we've done up till now and it's worked, so that's really all we can think about the rest of the way. Hope you'll be watching!