After the New Jersey Devils’ season ended and the players conducted their end of season interviews, eight players went off to Prague, Czechia to play in the IIHF Men’s Worlds. The players that were cleared to go were Ondrej Palat for Team Czechia, Nico Hischier, Jonas Siegenthaler and Utica Comets goalie Akira Schmid for Switzerland, Dawson Mercer and goalie Nico Daws for Canada, Rookies Simon Nemec for Slovakia and Luke Hughes for USA.
The World’s started out on May 10, 2024, and concluded on May 26, 2024. 16 countries are represented yearly and are separated into two groups, Group A and Group B. Group A consists of Czechia, Switzerland, Canada, Finland, Austria, Norway, Denmark, and Great Britain. Group B includes Sweden, USA, Germany, Slovakia, Latvia, Kazakhstan, France and Poland. Each country plays the other countries in their group one time for the preliminary games, and then the top four teams from each group move on to the quarter-finals. The winner of each of the four quarter-final games moves on to the semifinals; from there, each losing team from the semifinals plays for the bronze medal while the winners play for gold and silver.
The Devils all performed well on their respective teams this year despite playing against each other coming off a rough regular season. All five teams that the Devils were representing finished in a top 7 spot, with Czechia taking home the gold, Switzerland taking home silver, and Sweden taking bronze. They also had some impressive accomplishments individually. Siegenthaler came in 18th (out of the top 30) for most time on ice throughout the tournament and was the only player from New Jersey on this list. He played an impressive 182:03 minutes in total over nine games. Hischier was named player of the game for the Team Switzerland vs Team Austria game after scoring the game-winning goal on May 12th. Ondrej Palat was also named player of the game for Czechia following the May 15th game against Denmark.
Akira Schmid started in two games and was a backup goalie for 6 games, during the matchup against Austria on May 12th he replaced Reto Berra in the start of the third. Out of the three games he was in the net for, Switzerland won all of them and saved 35 out of 37 shots on goal.
Similarly to Schmid, Nico Daws was a backup for four games and was in the net for an unforgettable match against Norway on May 16th, where he assisted Seattle Kraken’s Jared McCann in a goal, closing out the third period. During that game he saved 5 out of 6 shots on goal.
Let’s break down each players points during the tournament…
Nico Hischier (SUI) had 11 points in ten games with six goals and four assists coming in seventh in the top thirty scoring leaders.
Jonas Siegenthaler (SUI) had 4 points, all made up of assists over nine games.
Dawson Mercer (CAN) had four points across nine games with three goals and one assist.
Simon Nemec (SVK) who finished his rookie year this season had seven points in eight games with one goal and six assists coming in 16th in the top thirty leaders in assists.
Luke Hughes (USA), also coming off his rookie year, had five points with two goals and three assists.
Ondrej Palat (CZE) had six points split evenly between goals and assists.
While the Devils had a bit of a rough 2023-24 season, it was refreshing to see these players do well in worlds and walk away with a gold and four silver medals.
ITR 45: Everything Is Happening – Inside The Rink
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