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John Gibson leads Team USA to 4-1 Win Over Team Finland, WC Update

By Sean

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U.S. goalie John Gibson earned a win in his World Championship debut against Finland. Photo: Richard Wolowicz / HHOF-IIHF Images

Helsinki, FIN – Team USA entrusted 19-year-old John Gibson to get the start against the hosts, Team Finland, yesterday. All Gibson did in his Team USA Men’s debut is make 31 saves in a hostile environment to lead USA to a 4-1 win. The poise that got him notoriety during the 2013 World Junior Championships has now gotten him some notoriety in the World Championships. Gibson made some huge saves includinga big save on a point blast from Teemu Laakso on the power play. Later, Gibson almost got caught on a wraparound attempt but robbed Juhamatti Aaltonen with his glove as he dove back across the crease. Arguably his biggest save of the game came when he denied a Sakari Salminen breakaway by going old school and stacking the pads, which led to a Team USA rush and goal by New Jersey Devils Stephen Gionta. USA also got a hattrick from Nashville Predators Craig Smith.

So far this tournament, Team USA are 3-0-0-1, with a 5-3 win over Austria, a 4-1 win over Latvia, a 5-3 loss to Russia, and finally the 4-1 win over Finland. . The WC use a W-OTW-OTL-L record format. They also use a points sytem where you get 3 points for a regulation win, 2 points for an overtime win, 1 point for an overtime loss and 0 points for a regulation loss. YOU LOSE. YOU GET NOTHING. GOOD DAY, SIR. Sorry, I digress. Here are the two standings for the two pools:

Pool H (Helsinki, FIN):

  1. Russia (3-0-0-1)
  2. United States (3-0-0-1)
  3. Finland (2-1-0-1)
  4. Slovakia (2-0-0-1)
  5. France (2-0-0-2)
  6. Germany (1-0-1-2)
  7. Austria (1-0-0-3)
  8. Latvia (0-0-0-3)

Pool S (Stockholm, SWE):

  1. Switzerland (3-1-0-0)
  2. Sweden (3-0-0-1)
  3. Canada (2-0-1-0)
  4. Norway (2-0-0-2)
  5. Czech Republic (1-1-0-2)
  6. Belarus (1-0-0-2)
  7. Denmark (0-1-1-2)
  8. Slovenia (0-0-1-3)

A couple of surprises there with Switzerland being the last unbeaten team in the tournament, with wins over host Sweden, Canada, Czech Republic and Slovenia. That’s pretty impressive as many would think Sweden, Canada and Czech Republic would be the top three in this pool. Not really any surprises in the Helsinki pool, except for France beating Russia yesterday, 2-1. As for Team USA, they look to be in good position to move on as their last two games are against France, on Sunday, and Germany, on Tuesday. The top four teams in each pool move on to the quarterfinals.

Since I’m bored and have nothing to do, here are some statistics thus far:

Scoring Leaders:

  1. Ilya Kovalchuk RUS – 7 PTS
  2. Petri Kontiola FIN – 7 PTS
  3. Paul Stastny USA – 7 PTS
  4. Denis Hollenstein SUI – 6 PTS
  5. Steven Stamkos CAN – 6 PTS

Goal Scoring Leaders:

  1. Ilya Kovalchuk RUS – 5 G
  2. Matt Duchene CAN – 3 G
  3. Jiri Hudler CZE – 3 G
  4. Tomas Zaborsky SVK – 3 G
  5. Anders Bastiansen NOR – 3 G

Assists Leaders:

  1. Jordan Eberle CAN – 5 A
  2. Paul Stastny USA – 5 A
  3. Roman Kukumberg SVK – 4 A
  4. Steven Stamkos CAN – 4 A
  5. Justin Faulk USA – 4 A

Save Percentage Leaders:

  1. Antti Raanta FIN – 0.950 SV%
  2. Jhonas Enroth SWE – 0.949 SV%
  3. Devan Dubnyk CAN – 0.949 SV%
  4. Alexander Salak CZE – 0.933 SV%
  5. Jacob Markstrom SWE – 0.932 SV%

If John Gibson had played more than 40% of Team USA’s total minutes, he would currently lead the tournament in save percentage with a mark of 0.969 SV%. But, anyway, pool play ends early next week. If I have time I’ll keep you guys as up to date as possible. For now, Go Ducks, Go Team USA and Go John Gibson!

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