December 26, 2021 by Spencer Pomoty

The World Junior Championships is about to start. Before the tournament started I expected the Oilers to potentially have up to three players attend the tournament. Luca Munzenberger (R3, #90, 2021) and Xavier Bourgault (R1, #22, 2021) were the favourites to make their respective national teams and I thought one of Tyler Tullio (R5, #126, 2020), Carter Savoie (R4, #100, 2020), or Matvei Petrov (R6, #180, 2021) would join them and make their teams, but that didn’t work out. The Oilers have two players entering the tournament which starts on December 26th, Luca Munzenberger for Germany and Xavier Bourgault for Canada.

Luca Munzenberger is one of two drafted players on this German team and the only skater. Last year he was on their top pair and this year he will have a ton of heavy lifting to do if Germany wants to do anything. At last years tournament the German born defender played in all of his teams five games recording no points, four shots, four penalty minutes, was a minus-four (which is pretty good for the German team last year), and he averaged 21:41 TOI. This year I expect those minutes to go up a bit to around 23 or 24 minutes a night. Luca’s game is mostly about how well he can defend, shutdown cycles, and be tough to play against. He struggles with the puck on his own stick at times, he resorts to a lot of dump outs and with him being the main piece this year he’ll have to make plays with the puck, whether it’s a pass or using his skating, you need the puck to score, and he gave it up too much last tournament. I project we will see a mean player to play against, a player that will eat a ton of minutes at 5v5 and on the PK. I’m going to be optimistic and say he pots home one assist this year.

German Round Robin Schedule:
December 26 – Finland vs Germany 12pm MT
December 27 – Germany vs Czechia 5pm MT
December 29 – Canada vs Germany 5pm MT
December 31 – Germany vs Austria 12pm MT

Xavier Bourgault is out to a booming start this year with 42 points in 24 games. As of today, the first rounder is lining up on the teams’ top line with Winnipeg’s 10^th overall pick in 2020 Cole Perfetti and projected first overall pick Shane Wright. This line is deadly. All three players have the ability to be the passer or the finisher on any given play. According to Mark Masters on Twitter, Bourgault is set to play on the second PP unit. There is always movement with lines during these short tournaments, but if he stays in the top six, I project him to put up some good numbers. Bourgault’s offensive game will fit well with Wright and Perfetti, he doesn’t need the puck to be effective, one of his strengths is finding the right space at the right time and opening up for a pass. But if he has the puck he’s always looking for a way to shoot or find a player in a dangerous spot. With Wright being a solid 200-foot player, Bourgault can focus on transitioning the puck offensively, he’s going to get and create a ton of chances during this tournament. I say he finishes the tournament with four goals, five assists, and stays in the top six. I don’t see him winning MVP or one of the three best players for his team, but he’s going to make an impact for this squad.

Canada Round Robin Schedule:
December 26 – Czechia vs Canada 5pm MT
December 28 – Austria vs Canada 5pm MT
December 29 – Canada vs Germany 5pm MT
December 31 – Canada vs Finland 5pm MT

For some fun here are my medal, award projection for the MVP, and the three best players of the tournament. I think Canada gets gold, Sweden takes Silver, and the US will come away with Bronze. I expect the MVP of the tournament will be Cole Perfetti. For the three best players I take best forward as Cole Perfetti, best defender Owen Power, and best goaltender will be Jesper Wallstedt.

Check out my recent appearance on the 99 Forever Podcast with Eric Friesen: