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Kings’ future is now: World Junior Hockey Championships, the final

By Helene Elliott
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This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

There’s one thing that Canadians seem to like more than beer and Tim Horton’s doughnuts: the world junior hockey tournament.

The annual championship, wrapping up Monday in Ottawa, features future NHL stars from around the world. Some have been drafted by NHL teams but others haven’t been claimed, and it’s a chance for all to be watched by NHL scouts.

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The Canada-Russia semifinal last Saturday outdrew the ‘Hockey Night in Canada’ telecast of the Ottawa Senators vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs, 1.855 million to 857,000, according to the Toronto Globe and Mail. That’s big stuff.

Great pace in the first period of today’s final. Canada scored a power-play goal 38 seconds in, and both are hitting fiercely.

The Kings have three dogs in this fight: defensemen Colten Teubert and Thomas Hickey of Canada and forward Oscar Moller of Sweden. In Canada’s first five games, Hickey had three assists and was minus-2. Teubert had no points and was minus-3. Moller had a goal and four points and an even plus/minus.

More to come.

-- Helene Elliott

Sports Now
Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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