The favourites continued to gobble up wins in the second and third days of the world junior tournament, though it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing all the way through for Team Canada.

The host nation got a bit of a scare from Team Switzerland, but was able to come out on top with a 3-2 victory. Unsurprisingly, Team USA and Finland both pelted Kazakhstan, while Team Russia emerged victorious against both the Czech Republic and Denmark. Rounding out the action, Sweden was able to defeat Slovakia 5-2.

But here we are most concerned with how the Vancouver Canucks prospects at the tournament performed, so let’s jump into that.

- Michael DiPietro was given the night off against Switzerland, but Team Canada’s coach did commit to having him as the team’s starter. Starting with today’s contest against Team Czech Republic, the Ottawa 67s ‘tender will likely be between the pipes for the rest of the tournament, unless he falters or is injured.

- Team Finland was able to rout Kazakhstan 5-0, though defenceman Toni Utunen wasn’t very noticeable. The team dressed seven rearguards for the contest and as a result the Canucks’ fifth-round pick in June’s draft saw a big decrease in ice time, logging a team low 9:01, down from the 17:18 he played against Team Sweden. He did, however, come away with a plus-1 rating.

- Team USA boasts two promising Canucks prospects, and both were noticeable once again. Tyler Madden scored a (pretty nice) goal and was buzzing around the ice all night.

https://twitter.com/usahockey/status/1078878773280268291

- Meanwhile, Quinn Hughes just flat out looks ready to play in the NHL. The defenceman finished with nine shots on goal and an assist. Hughes has been running Team USA’s powerplay during the tournament and just looks very poised and confident. It’s pretty obvious he’d be able to skate circles around most of the NHL. It sure seems like he’ll be up with the big club at the end of the season, like Brock Boeser and Adam Gaudette before him.

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