2014 WJC Podcast: Germany, Norway down to final relegation encounter Photo: Team Norway forward Martin Ronnild and his teammates, will attempt to complete what would be an upset win over Germany in the relegation round of the 2014 World Junior Championship (courtesy of ANDREAS HILLERGREN/AFP/Getty Images) Two games haven't decided the fate of the two relegation round combatants at the 2014 World Junior Championship, so Germany and Norway will play one more to decide which team will compete at the 2015 WJC next year in Canada. 2014 WJC Podcast: Germany, Norway looking to avoid relegation Photo: Sudbury Wolves forward Dominik Kahun will be a key performer in Germany’s relegation round series against Norway at the 2014 World Junior Championship (courtesy of Terry Wilson / OHL Images) With the preliminary round now in the books, eight of the 10 teams taking part in the 2014 World Junior Championship can look forward to battling it out for medals beginning with the four quarterfinals matches on Thursday. But the other two teams on the outside looking in, Germany and Norway, are in the more precarious position of having to qualify for next year's top level of the WJC. 2014 WJC Video: Markus Eisenschmid and Fabio Wagner, Germany Photo: EV Landshut defenseman is competing in his first U20 World Junior Championship for Germany (courtesy of Chapin Landvogt/HF) Heading into their fourth and final match of the 2014 World Junior Championship's preliminary round, Germany needed to reverse their trend of the first three games in which they surrendered copious amounts of goals to the opposition. And reverse it they did, as the Germans notched a 3-0 win over the Czech Republic to at least give themselves a shot at avoiding the relegation round. 2014 WJC Video: Marvin Cupper, Germany Photo: Shawinigan Cataractes goaltender Marvin Cupper is a veteran of Germany’s World Junior team, having played in the U18 version twice, and now appearing in his second U20 WJC with his participation at the 2014 World Junior Championship (courtesy of Chapin Landvogt/HF) Germany headed into their Monday match-up with the Czech Republic with three lopsided losses to show for their 2014 World Junior Championship efforts to date. Added to that, they were entering the contest without their best player, Leon Draisaitl, who was suspended for one game. 2014 WJC Podcast: The story so far from Malmo Photo: The host country for the 2014 World Junior Championship, Sweden, has performed well so far at this WJC, going undefeated in three games including a 5-3 win over Switzerland on opening night (courtesy of LUDVIG THUNMAN/AFP/Getty Images) It has been an interesting 2014 World Junior Championship so far, with one major upset plus a fair amont of offense being generated, albeit with a couple of teams proving to be far more generous than most of the field competing in Malmo, Sweden. |
