Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

At The WJC Today

01/02/2016 at 6:34pm EST

from Adam Kimelman of NHL.com,

Here are five things we learned on quarterfinal Saturday at World Junior Championship:

Deep draft pool -- The World Junior Championship generally is dominated by 19-year-olds, but the 2016 edition is proving to be one for the kids.

Of the top seven scorers, six are players eligible for the 2016 NHL Draft. Besides Puljujarvi's 15 points, Matthews and Laine are tied for third with 11; Sweden forward Alexander Nylander and Finland defenseman Olli Juolevi are tied for fifth with nine; and U.S. forward Matthew Tkachuk is seventh with eight. The only drafted player to break into the top eight is Aho, who centers Puljujarvi and Laine and is second with 12 points.

The top three goal scorers are Matthews with seven, Laine with six and Puljujarvi with five. Puljujarvi (10) and Juolevi (nine) lead in assists. Juolevi leads all defensemen in points.

Denmark upset denied -- Denmark is going home from the World Juniors for a second straight time after a tough loss in the quarterfinals. But what happened Saturday was a completely different experience from 2015.

Denmark led Russia 3-2 with 44.1 seconds left in regulation before losing 4-3 in overtime.

"They have an experience now for life and their hockey future," Denmark coach Olaf Eller told TSN. "They have a taste of how close you can come."

It's a far cry from their 8-0 loss to Canada in the 2015 WJC quarterfinals. That Denmark roster featured Winnipeg Jets rookie Nikolai Ehlers and Jets prospect Oliver Bjorkstrand, who is playing in the American Hockey League.

more

Monday's semi-final games are Sweden/Finland at 9:00am ET and USA/Russia to 1:00pm. Games will be on the NHL Network and TSN.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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