A franchise record and NHL-high nine Blues prospects, after having seven in Sweden in 2024, were all in action, and in the lone Mano a mano matchup, Otto Stenberg and Theo Lindstein got the best of Dalibor Dvorsky and Juraj Pekarcik.
There were really no surprises as all the expected winners got the upper hand on Day 1 when Sweden rallied for a 5-2 win against Slovakia, then defending gold medal winner USA and Colin Ralph blasted Germany 10-4, and Czechia, which is carrying the most Blues prospects with four, rolled over Switzerland, 5-1. The nightcap featured no Blues when host Canada took on Finland.
* Sweden 5, Slovakia 2 — Dvorsky was expected to be one of the top performers heading into tournament play, and the 10th pick in the 2023 NHL Draft became the first goal-scorer when he sniped a shot from the right circle in the first period to give the Slovaks a 1-0 lead:
But Sweden, which took the silver last year on home soil when it lost to USA 6-2, would come roaring back with five unanswered goals, with Stenberg picking up two assists.
The 25th pick in the 2023 draft would get in on Sweden’s third and fourth goals by Axel Sandin Pellikka.
Pekarcik, a third-round pick in 2023, would pick up a power-play assist late in the game:
Stenberg was second on Sweden with five shots on goal and was a plus-2 in 16:57 of ice time, while Lindstein, who led all defensemen in last year’s tournament with eight points in seven games, didn’t factor in the scoring Thursday but was third among Swedish d-men in ice time at 19:23.
Dvorsky scored and played 22:30, led the Slovaks with four shots and was 15 of 24 (62.5 percent) on face-offs, while Pekarcik, playing on Dvorsky’s line, had the one assist and played 22:08. Each was even in plus-minus.
* Czechia 5, Switzerland 1 — Jakub Stancl had a goal and an assist, Ondrej Kos each scored, and Adam Jecho (2024, third round) had an assist among Blues prospects in Czechia’s opening-day win.
Kos, a 2024 third-round pick, made hard work pay off with a burst of speed around the left edge, and his centering feed caromed off the back of a skate and stick before bounding up and into the net for a 3-0 lead:
Stancl, a 2023 fourth-round pick, scored a power-play goal off the the skate of Switzerland goalie Elijah Neuenchwander off a backhand wraparound to make it 4-0 early in the third period:
When speaking with Blues assistant general manager Tim Taylor on Monday, there’s a sense the organization really wants to see this kid perform well.
“He didn’t come over last year so he didn’t even go to his team until after training camp here,” Taylor said of Stancl, who is lighting it up with Kelowna of the Wester Hockey League with 32 points (11 goals, 21 assists) in 26 games. “I thought it was going to be a harder adjustment for him, but obviously he’s a really good kid. He’s had a lot happen to him over the last year. He’s really handled it and persevered through it. He’s just a really good human being.
“That team in Kelowna was really excited to get him and now they’re more excited that he’s on their team. He’s just a quality kid, a hard-working kid and really the transition for him was seamless, which I was a little nervous about. It was his first time coming over. All the accolades go to ‘Stanc’ because he’s come in and worked his tail off and really he’s been a great kid for that organization. He scores goals for them, but his details are even better. They’re really happy with him.”
Defenseman Adam Jiricek, a first-round pick (No. 16) in 2024, returned to play after suffering a serious right knee injury in last year’s tournament; he played 17:12 on Thursday.
Stancl was a plus-2 in 12:52; Kos was a plus-1 in 11:12 and Jecho was a plus-2 in 9:05.
* USA 10, Germany 4 — The defending gold medal winners scored four goals in each of the final two periods to cruise to a win.
Ralph, a defenseman and second-round pick in 2024, played limited minutes, getting exactly 10 minutes on the third pairing. He took 13 shifts and was a minus-1.
* Looking ahead — Blues prospects in action on Friday include Slovakia taking on Switzerland at noon and Sweden facing Kazakhstan at 4 p.m. All games can be seen in the US on NHL Network and on TSN in Canada.
