Kristian Vesalainen was the only Winnipeg Jets prospect to play today and he came through for Finland. While he had no points, he had two shots on goal and was an all around positive player for Finland. Vesalainen should find success in this tournament as he played last year in the World Juniors and recorded two points despite being under-aged. He currently has 19 points in 26 games with his SM-Liiga team, HPK, this year.
Another Jets prospect in the tournament, Mikhail Berdin, was not dressed in Russia’s opening loss to the Czech Republic. Berdin was one of the initial two goalies named to the team. It is possible that Berdin was simply given the game entirely off as Russia is carrying three goalies.
EDIT Finally, defenceman and 2017 second round draft pick Dylan Samberg is on Team USA and started the tournament on the top pair with Adam Fox.
The tournament continues tomorrow at 2:00 PM when Belarus plays Switzerland and 6:00 PM when Canada plays Slovakia. No Jets prospects will be playing in these games.
