The United States is set to take on Canada, in what should be an epic battle for a shot at advancing to the World Junior Hockey Championship final.
The match up will take place early Thursday morning at 3:30 et/12:30 pt on the NHL Network.
Team USA, fresh off a 7-0 victory over the Czech Republic, is going to be looking for revenge after falling to Canada 2-1 earlier in the tournament.
This game will feature two of hockey’s better goaltending prospects, as John Gibson has been stellar for the Americans and Malcolm Subban has also been up to the task for team Canada. Gibson is a member of theAnaheim Ducks organization, while Subban was selected in the first round, 24th overall by the Boston Bruins in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.
While the goaltending match up will be a huge key, the play of both teams other top young stars will also be pivotal.
Canada, of course is led by NHL star Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of the Edmonton Oilers. The team in general has a ton of offensive talent. Team USA will be expecting a big offensive performance from Montreal Canadiens prospectAlex Galchenyuk, who was the third overall pick in the 2012 NHL Entry draft.
Another player to keep an eye on for team USA is New York Rangers prospect J.T. Miller. While Miller doesn’t possess world class offensive skill like Nugent-Hopkins and Galchenyuk, he is a hard-nosed player that you can expect to come up big in a huge game like this.
