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Columbus Blue Jackets at the IIHF World Hockey Championship: Round-Robin Update

By Jason Funke

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Round-Robin play for the IIHF World Hockey Championship is underway in the Czech Republic.  As we have previously discussed, the Blue Jackets have five players, five members of Front Office, and one prospect playing in the tournament.  The tournament is about half-way through the first round, so we thought we’d check in on how the members of the Jackets are doing.  

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Todd Richards & Crew (USA)

Blue Jackets Head Coach Todd Richards is running the show for Team USA, and he brought along four others from the Blue Jackets Front Office.  Richards and crew are doing a fantastic job for Team USA, as the USA is one of only two undefeated teams remaining in the tournament – Canada is the other – and is currently sitting on top of its group of seven teams.  Indeed, under Richards, the USA has the second best goalkeeping in the tournament, the third best penalty killing unit, and the fifth best scoring efficiency.

This is the first time since 1997 that USA has started the tournament with three wins.  In their first game, the USA crushed last year’s second place finishers and Olympic bronze medalists, Finland 5-1. In their second game, the USA eeked out a 2-1 win over Norway.  And then the USA came up with a big 4-2 win over the star-studded defending champs, Russia, on Monday.  It wasn’t quite the Miracle on Ice, but it was enough to knock Russia out of first place in the IIHF’s power rankings and move USA into second place — you guessed it, Canada is in first.

USA’s next game is against Belarus on Thursday, May 7 at 10 a.m. ET.

Artem Anisimov (Russia)

Artem Anisimov is having a solid tournament.  After four games, he has a goal, an assist, and 13 shots on goal.  His goal against Norway was pretty slick.  Check it out below.

Sergei Bobrovsky (Russia)

Bob has been decent for Russia so far, stopping 17 of 19 shots in Russia’s 6-2 win over Norway – Bob remarked “I didn’t have much to do” – 18 of 20 shots in Russia’s 5-2 win over Denmark, and 16 of 19 shots in Russia’s 4-2 loss against USA.  However, his 2.35 GAA and .879 save percentage are a bit off from his 2014 IIHF numbers, when he went 8-0 with 1.13 GAA and .950 save percentage. It’s still early in the tournament, though.

Marko Dano (Slovakia)

Marko Dano is starting on Slovakia’s top line along with former Jacket Marian Gaborik.  Dano has one goal and 12 shots after four games, but that one goal was a beauty.  Dano scored the game winning shootout goal in Slovakia’s 4-3 win over Denmark.  We shared it earlier this week, but it’s definitely worth sharing again:

David Savard (Canada)

David Savard has been solid for the undefeated Canadian team, recording an assist in Canada’s first two games and holding a 4+/- with 6 shots on goal after four games.  Savard has lined up primarily with Patrick Wiercioch (Ottawa Senators) on the teams’ second defensive pairing.

Jeremy Morin (USA)

Jeremy Morin has had a quiet tournament so far, with no points, no shots and a 0+/-.

Mike Reilly (USA)

Jackets Prospect Mike Reilly has had a decent tournament so far, with no points a -1+/- but 6 shots on goal — second only to Torey Krug for defensemen on the team.

But more importantly, Aaron Portzline from the Columbus Dispatch reported that Mike Reilly hasn’t completely given up on the notion of signing with the Jackets.


That’s progress, right?  Maybe playing for Todd Richards and crew is helping?

Check back with us for more updates on the Blue Jackets at the World Hockey Championship!

Next: Blue Jackets Three Stars May 6th

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