• PROSPECT-UPDATE ARCHIVE
Sunday's World Under-18 Championship gold-medal game turned out to be a heart-breaker for Team USA. The Americans fell to Finland 3-2 when Oliver Wahlstrom missed an open net with about one second left in regulation. It was a stunning moment that will probably haunt Wahlstrom for years to come.
Wahlstrom was one of the best players in the tournament and one of the best pure scorers in the 2018 draft pool, so his last-second miss was the height of irony. Any NHL team that downgrades him because of that would be making a big mistake, because he is going to be a major goal-scorer at the next level. Hopefully, he'll have a chance like that in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals someday, only this time he won't miss.
Full credit to Finland for a tremendous tournament. The Finns went undefeated, and their draft-eligible players were great. It will be interesting to see where their leading scorer, Niklas Nordgren, gets drafted. He is so talented, but also so small. In today's NHL, however, his size might not be the problem it would have been in past years. Nordgren didn't make the list of top performances below, but one of his teammates did. Check out Sunday's Fab Five:
Despite going only 2-2 in the preliminary round, this U.S. squad has the advantage of having played together all season. That usually makes all the difference in the medal round. In any case, this will be the game to watch. It should be some great hockey on Thursday. Tuesday's final preliminary-round matchups set the tone, as four of the top five performances on the list below came from those games. Take a look:
JUSTUS ANNUNEN -- What a World Under-18 tournament it was for Annunen, who made 26 saves in Finland's 3-2 win over Team USA that won gold. The Finnish No. 1 goalie, who started all but one game at the tournament, made 26 saves in the finale -- stopping seven of eight shots in the first period, 12 of 13 in the second, and all seven in the third. He finished the World Under-18 with a perfect 6-0 record. Among goalies with more than three starts, he was third in both goals-against average (2.00) and save percentage (.914). (Note: 15th appearance on this list in 2017-18)
DAVID GUSTAFSSON -- Gustafsson picked up three assists in Sweden's World Under-18 bronze-medal winning 5-2 victory over the Czech Republic. The SHL regular, who finished his year with a brief stint in the Swedish Under-20 playoffs before going to Russia, had the primary assists on two first-period power-play goals. The first, at 8:17, made it 2-0, and the second came on the game-winner for a 3-1 lead at 16:17. He later assisted on a goal at 5:31 of the third to finish the tournament with a point-per-game average. (Note: Fifth appearance on this list in 2017-18)
OLOF LINDBOM -- No World Under-18 goaltender was more impressive than Sweden's Lindbom, who closed out his remarkable run with 38 saves in a 5-2 bronze-medal win over the Czech Republic. Lindbom, who was named the tournament's top goaltender, stopped 13 of 14 first-period shots, 11 of 12 in the second, and all 14 in the third to finish with a 4-1-1 record. His 1.66 goals-against average was tops among goalies with four or more starts, as was his .949 save percentage. His draft stock shot up enormously as a result. (Note: Seventh appearance on this list in 2017-18)
SAM RENLUND -- The top scorer in the NAHL playoffs, Renlund kept it going with two goals in Janesville's 3-2 OT victory at Fairbanks that gave the Jets a 2-1 series lead. A Colorado College recruit, Renlund scored his first goal just 23 seconds into the third period to cut Fairbanks' lead to 2-1. Just over two minutes later, he tied the score at 2:42. With seven goals and 11 points in six postseason games, Renlund ranks No. 1 in both categories. He has really stepped up his game after scoring only 12 regular-season goals. (Note: Fourth appearance on this list in 2017-18)
JACOB SCHMIDT-SVEJSTRUP -- He's already 20 years old and has passed through two drafts, but Schmidt-Svejstrup has had a very strong season in the USHL as he gets ready for a college career at Maine. The Danish winger had three assists in Fargo's 3-2 OT win at Waterloo, as the Force evened the Western Conference Final series 1-1. Schmidt-Svejstrup assisted on the opening goal at 19:46 of the second period, got another helper on the 2-0 goal at 4:40 of the third, and finished it off with his third assists at 3:42 of overtime. He now has two goals and four assists in eight USHL playoff games.