Calgary Flames: Four of Five Prospects Will Have Medals At World Juniors

The gold medal and bronze medal games for the World Junior Championships is today. Four of five Calgary Flames prospects will walk away with a medal.

It’s one of my favorite days of the year (when Canada makes it to the finals). It’s World Junior Championship day! Later today, Sweden and Russia will face off for the bronze medal and Canada and USA will face off for the gold medal. All five Calgary Flames prospects will be playing in those games.

However, there are prospects on each of those four teams. So, with only three kinds of medals and four teams, we’ll have someone without a medal.

At 1:30 pm MT, Oliver Kylington (D) of Team Sweden will be battling for the bronze medal against Pavel Karnaukhov (F) of Team Russia. Then we’ll have Dillon Dube (F) of Team Canada who will be facing off in the gold medal game vs Adam Fox (D) and Tyler Parsons (G) of Team USA at 6:00 pm MT.

Kylington vs Karnaukhov

Only one of these players will walk away with a medal today. In the semi finals, Russia lost to USA in a nail-biting shootout. Pavel Karnaukhov was a fifth round pick for the Calgary Flames in 2015. He had one assist in the semi-final game and had two goals and four points in the six games he has played for Team Russia.

Kylington was a second round pick for Calgary last year at the draft as well. In the semi finals, he played over 20 minutes, but couldn’t get his name on the score sheet. In his six games for Sweden, he has four assists as well, but couldn’t find the back of the net.

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Dube vs Fox and Parsons

Dube, Fox, and Parsons were all picks at the 2016 draft. Parsons and Dube were second round picks while Fox was a third round pick.

The Canada and Sweden game wasn’t as nail biting as the Russia and USA game, but as a Canadian, it’s still always fun to watch. Dube put in over 11 minutes of ice-time, but couldn’t find his name on the score sheet during the semis. He has three assists in five games in the tournament. Now, he may not have more points, but in one game against Russia, he didn’t get one of the assists, but he definitely helped make a play that led to a goal. He also drew a penalty which led to a Canadian PP goal. He may not have his name a lot on the score sheet, but this kid definitely has an impact.

Then we have Fox and Parsons for team USA. Parsons has been a big factor in USA’s success. He has played in four games for the team and has won all of them. His GAA is 1.92 and his sv% is 0.917 through those four games. In the semis, he made 33 saves through regulation and OT to help bring his team to a shootout win, where he stopped four of the shots.

Fox has just one assist through six games of the tournament so far. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance to watch him a whole lot during the tournament, unlike being able to watch Dube for Team Canada and knowing what’s on the score sheet definitely is matching his talent. But for Fox, right now on paper, he hasn’t really been producing a whole lot. And he net just over 11 minutes of ice-time during the semis.

That’s all for now on these prospects. As much as I want to root for all the Calgary Flames prospects, I’m crossing my fingers for a win for Canada. At least the Flames will have four prospects coming home with some medals.