10 things learned from World Junior Championship

The United States celebrated its fifth championship with a 2-0 win against Canada in the final game of the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Tuesday.

It was the first championship for the United States since 2017, when it defeated Canada 5-4 in a shootout, and the first shutout by the United States in the semifinal round or championship game in its history.
United States forward Trevor Zegras, chosen No. 9 by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2019 NHL Draft, was named the tournament's most valuable player. Zegras led the WJC with 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in seven games. It's the third time in four years a player from the United States was named tournament MVP (Ryan Poehling in 2019; Casey Mittelstadt in 2018).
The WJC Media All-Star Team included Canada goalie
Devon Levi
(Florida Panthers), Canada defenseman Bowen Byram (Colorado Avalanche), Finland defenseman
Ville Heinola
(Winnipeg Jets), Canada forward
Dylan Cozens
(Buffalo Sabres), Germany forward Tim Stützle (Ottawas Senators) and Zegras.
Here are 10 other things learned at the tournament:
Knight perseveres, delivers
Spencer Knight
(Florida Panthers) came through when it mattered most for the United States, making 34 saves in the shutout against Canada in the championship game.
The 19-year-old was pulled at 12:15 of the second period after allowing four goals on 12 shots in a 5-3 loss in the preliminary-round opener to Russia on Dec. 25, but finished with five straight wins, beginning with a 7-0 victory against the Czech Republic on Dec. 29. He was 5-0-0-1 with a 1.63 goals-against average, a .939 save percentage and three shutouts to set U.S. WJC career and single-tournament shutout records.
"When I talk about the maturity level and the commitment level of young players, Spencer Knight is at the top," Panthers vice president of player personnel and development Gregory Campbell said. "When talking to Spencer, it's like you're talking to a guy that's already played in the League for a number of years. Our organization has the utmost excitement for Spencer and for what he's going to do in his career. We've talked to him as a group. It's something where once we get him into our organization, his type of character is contagious to the rest of the guys, especially around the younger players."
Canada finishes second
Canada had its 33rd top-three finish at the World Juniors, included finishing second for the 10th time.
It has finished in the top three in five of the past seven tournaments and has won the event three times in that span.
Cozens led Canada with 16 points (eight goals, eight assists), Byram scored five points (one goal, four assists) and led the team in average ice time per game at 22:59, and Levi finished 6-0-0-1 with a 0.75 GAA, a .949 save percentage and three shutouts.
"I'm extremely proud of this group," Canada coach Andre Tourigny said. "Every time we faced adversity they bounced back. They worked hard, showed a lot of pride in the way they behaved, very respectful of our opponent, for our country and for their teammates. Those young men are unbelievable and I'm super proud of them."
Finland finishes third
Finland had its 17th top-three finish and second in the past three tournaments (first in 2019), defeating Russia 4-1 in the consolation game Tuesday. It has placed in the top three 10 times since the current tournament format was adopted in 1996.
Forward
Anton Lundell
(Florida Panthers) led Finland with 10 points (six goals, four assists) and averaged 17:41 in ice time. Heinola averaged 23:59 in ice time, and
Topi Niemela
(Toronto Maple Leafs), who led all defensemen with eight points (two goals, six assists), was named the tournament's best defenseman.
"We trusted in our game plan, we have a really strong team, strong atmosphere, we trusted each other and just keep working," Lundell said. "If we work hard there will be good things and we will score goals. It was really fun to play with this group of guys."

Podkolzin impresses Canucks
Vasily Podkolzin
(Vancouver Canucks), who scored four points (two goals, two assists) in seven games as captain for Russia, was selected one of the three best players on fourth-place Russia.
"I was very impressed [with his leadership]," Russia coach Igor Larionov said. "I told him the Vancouver Canucks are going to have a really good young lad to add with character, skill and commitment to their organization."
Canucks general manager Jim Benning said he looks forward to the day when the No. 10 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft joins them. Podkolzin is expected to return to SKA St. Petersburg in the Kontinental Hockey League, where he is under contract until April 30.
"It's his combination of size (6-foot-1, 190 pounds), strength and hockey smarts," Benning said. "He plays a power-forward style game where you know he'll be first in on pucks. We think that [whenever he joins our club] he'd start out as a top-nine forward for us, but he's going to develop into a top-six guy that's capable of scoring 20-30 goals a year."
NHL could be next for Zegras
Zegras left for the World Juniors with some explicit instructions from Ducks general manager Bob Murray.
"Got to help lead that team and get them into the finals," Murray said. "That's why I sent him there."
Zegras played a leading role in helping the United States win the championship. His 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) ranks second on the United States all-time list for points in a single WJC (Doug Weight, 19 points, 1991) and second on the single-tournament assists list (Weight, 14, 1991). The 19-year-old also is tied for most career points (27, 12 games) with Jordan Schroeder (19 games, 2008-10) and career assists (Schroeder, 20).
Next should be a chance to help the Ducks, who averaged 2.56 goals per game last season, 29th in the NHL.
"There's a place for Trevor," Murray said. "He's going to try to make the Anaheim Ducks."

Sweden streak ends
Sweden ran its unbeaten streak in the preliminary round of the tournament to 54 games with wins against Czech Republic (7-1 on Dec. 26) and Austria (4-0 on Dec. 28), but lost its next three games, to Russia (4-3 on Dec. 30) and the United States (4-0 on Dec. 31) in the preliminaries, and then Finland (3-2 on Jan. 2) in the quarterfinal round.
The 54-game unbeaten streak included 47 wins in regulation, three in overtime and four in a shootout. Sweden, which had eight top-three finishes during the streak and one championship (2012), finished fifth in this year's tournament.
"We had a good feeling after the loss to Russia], even though we hate to lose," Sweden coach Joel Ronnmark said. "The energy in the group and the way we tried to prepare ... maybe we didn't have our best game against the U.S. and didn't against Finland either, but I don't think anything from that Russia loss [lingered
(Minnesota Wild) and
Cole Caufield
(Montreal Canadiens). He earned big minutes in 5-on-5 situations and played on the penalty kill. He'll return to the University of Michigan, where he has scored six points (three goals, three assists) in eight games.
Russia defenseman Kirill Kirsanov, a C-rated skater on the preliminary players to watch list, scored two points (one goal, one assist), and was a plus-1 while averaging 20:35 of ice time in seven games. Finland forward Samuel Helenius, a B-rated skater, scored four points (two goals, two assists), was a plus-2, and took nine shots on goal while averaging 13:18 in ice time. Jesper Wallstedt, an A-rated goalie for Sweden, had a 2.40 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage in two games.
Stuetzle eyeing NHL chance
Stuetzle was named the best forward at the World Juniors, scoring 10 points (five goals, five assists) and averaging 25:40 of ice time in five games for Germany.
The No. 3 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft by the Senators had his sights set on his next destination not long after Germany lost 2-1 against Russia in the quarterfinals. Stuetzle flew from Edmonton to Ottawa that night.
"I hope I I'm going to play in the NHL this season," he said. "That's 100 percent my goal, and I will work very hard for that."
Stuetzle played left wing at the WJC, and likely will start there when he joins the Senators at training camp. Regardless of where he plays, there's some excitement at what Stuetzle can do this season.
"He's a special player," Senators coach D.J. Smith said recently. "And when you see a special player, that's why you drafted them first, second, third overall. They're franchise players sometimes. ... He's still going to have some growing pains. But the finished product Tim Stuetzle looks like one heck of a good hockey player."
Germany earns respect
Germany reached the quarterfinals for the first time since the current tournament format was adopted in 1996 even though it played its first three games with 14 skaters (nine forwards, five defensemen) because of coronavirus issues. It's 5-4 win against Switzerland on Dec. 30 was the first time it had a full roster, dressing 12 forwards and seven defensemen.
Germany, which placed sixth in the tournament, even had shirts made that said, "Why Not Us?" Germany's best finish at the WJC was fifth in 1981 (as West Germany).
"We can be really proud of our tournament," Stuetzle said. "I'm proud of the players and staff. We were the first under-20 team to reach the quarterfinals for Germany."
2022 WJC setup
The 2022 IIHF WJC will return to Alberta since the 2021 event could not be played in front of fans in Edmonton and Red Deer as initially planned due to the coronavirus.
It will be the 15th World Juniors to be hosted in Canada and it will take place at Rogers Place in Edmonton and ENMAX Centrium in Red Deer.
The tournament will be held Dec. 26 to Jan. 5, 2022.
Here are the tentative groupings:
Group in Edmonton: Canada, Finland, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria
Group in Red Deer: United States, Russia, Sweden, Slovakia, Switzerland
NHL.com deputy managing editor Adam Kimelman contributed to this report