The World Juniors Will Be Starting On Christmas Day This Year, Which Is The Greatest Gift Anybody Could Ask For
I think we can all agree that the worst part about Christmas is waking up that morning and knowing that you still have an entire day ahead of you before you can wake up the next day for the World Juniors. No offense to your family or anything but I can't imagine spending time with any of them is better than spending time watching the next generation of NHL superstars battle it out for world dominance.
But that's not the case this year. For the first time since 2005, we get to wake up on Christmas morning, annihilate a full pot of coffee, get all the family stuff you gotta do out of the way by noon, and then park your ass directly on the couch for a 2pm ET puck drop between Switzerland and Slovakia to get the 2021 WJC underway. Good news is Switzerland and Slovakia isn't exactly a marquee game so if you still have some lingering family obligations in the early afternoon, that game is one you can just check out from time to time in the background.
But 9:30pm ET? Ohhhhh baby. You crushed a massive dinner. You housed several gallons of egg nog and red wine and Double IPAs and whatever else you could get your hands on at dinner. The day is winding down to an end and now you have THE United States of America taking on the Russians to open up their tournament. USA vs Russia on Christmas Day. Where have we seen that one before?
Just in case you forgot, the good guys win.
Holy shit this day is going to kick so much ass. The only thing that stinks is USA and Canada are in different groups this year so it's another year when we don't get a classic USA vs Canada New Years Eve game. But we'll have USA vs Sweden at 9:30pm on New Years Eve and leading us right into that game will be Canada vs Finland at 6pm. So yeah, looks like your schedule is already booked for NYE. And then imagine if we get to wake up on January 1 and the NHL gets their season opened for New Years? This is going to be the greatest week of all of our lives.
I'll get some actual preview blogs for the World Juniors going once we get to December. But it'll definitely be interesting to see who ends up playing in this year's tournament since this is the first time in a long time that the tournament gets going while there's no NHL season already underway. Will Tim Stuetzel's broken hand be healed up by the time the tournament rolls around? Will Alexis Lafreniere play for Canada and try to do something that Sidney Crosby was never able to do and win back-to-back golds? Hell, even Jack Hughes would be eligible to play in this year's tournament. I doubt the Devils would take that risk but they'd be doing their duty as Patriots to allow the USA roster to be as stacked as possible. But yeah, that's all shit we'll talk about as we get closer to the tournament once those decisions are made. In the meantime, I need one of you to come to my home and punch me in the face so hard that I go into a coma until Christmas day.