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It's that time of the year.

Hopefully, you've had a great Christmas. If not, don't worry. Santa's got the World Juniors coming up.

It's an awesome holiday tradition. Hockey and Christmas just go so well with each other. What better way to ease into the New Year than watching potential future Blackhawks rip it up on the international stage?

Below I'll give a preview of the World Juniors. Once things kick off, I'll be doing my best to update this post. The focus is on the Blackhawks' prospects and how they're doing. Macklin Celebrini, of course, will be included.

Unfortunately, due to the time these games are airing, I'll be lucky if I can catch a replay. I'm up before the sun for work and on the road when these games will be on.

Whip out the egg nog, get some Christmas-flavored beer (horchata beer is a thing, by the way), and learn about your future Blackhawks.

Team USA

Stats are pulled from Elite Prospects
Schedule from NHL.com

Schedule: Dec. 26, Norway (10 a.m. CT); Dec. 28, Switzerland (10 a.m. CT); Dec. 29, Czechia (10 a.m. CT); Dec. 31, Slovakia (5 a.m. CT)

The Hawks have 4 players on Team USA. Frank Nazar is the prospect all Hawks fans should be watching. Oliver Moore made the roster, but I don't expect him to get a lot of minutes.

Frank Nazar/C
Drafted 2022, 1st Round, 13 overall
University of Michigan/NCAA

• 18 Games played, 8 goals, 10 assists
• Point per game player, Nazar is expected to play his first NHL game once the NCAA season is over. It'll be his first World Juniors as he was injured last year. His comeback season in Michigan has been impressive.

Gavin Hayes/LW
Drafted 2022, 3rd Round, 66 overall
Flint Firebirds/OHL

• 27 games played, 19 goals, 17 assists
• He is the team leader in points thus far
• He had a four point night on Nov 17 against Sarnia
• 7 power play goals on the season

Sam Rinzel/D
Drafted 2022, 1st Round, 25 overall
University of Minnesota/NCAA

• 18 games played, 1 goal, 10 assists
• Rinzel, teammate of Oliver Moore, has proven to be a solid defender
• Another nice surprise this year, he's been on the top pair for Minnesota.

Oliver Moore/C
Drafted 2023, 1st Round, 19 overall
University of Minnesota/NCAA

• 18 games played, 2 goals, 10 assists
• In his first year in the NCAA, Moore has been playing well
• It's a little disappointing to see him with only 2 goals, but I'm not too concerned yet. It's his freshman year in the NCAA. Give him time.

Team Slovakia

Schedule: Dec. 26, Czechia (5 a.m. CT); Dec. 27, Switzerland (5 a.m. CT); Dec. 29, Norway (5 a.m. CT); Dec. 31, United States (5 a.m. CT)

Adam Gajan/G
Drafted 2023, 2nd Round, 35 overall
Greenbay Gamblers/USHL

• 20 games played, 3.03 GAA, .911 SV%
• Looking to be the starting goaltender as of this writing
• He played well in last year's World Juniors with a 2.40 GAA and a .936 SV%. He was also on the receiving end of a Connor Bedard highlight.

Martin Misiak
2023, 2nd Round, 55 overall
Erie Otters/OHL

• 28 games played, 13 goals, 13 assists
• He leads the team in power play goals with 7
• Of the 2023 draft class, Misiak has been my biggest surprise. Lardis was my favorite pick outside of the obvious (Bedard and Moore), but Misiak has certainly grabbed my attention with his scoring and playmaking ability in the OHL.
• I hate getting attached to prospects because the NHL is such a crap shoot, but I've been a Misiak fan from the couple of games I've been able to watch.

Day 1 - 12/26/2023

Slovakia vs Czechia (link for video highlights)
SVK wins 6-2
Next game is tomorrow, 12/27/2023 at 5am against Switzerland

Adam Gajan

• Made 27 saves on 29 shots
• .931 SV%

Martin Misiak

• Misiak played on the second line with 14:54 minutes of ice time. He had 2 shots on goal and 1 assist. His assist came at the start of the third period to make it 3-1 for Slovakia

USA vs Norway
USA wins 4-1
Next game is Dec 28 at 10am against Switzerland

Frank Nazar

• Nazar played on the second line and had 1 assist, 2 shots on goal, and played 12:02 of ice time. He looked fast out there.

Sam Rinzel

• Rinzel was on the ice for 12:33 and had two shots on goal.

Gavin Hayes

• 1 shot 9:25
• Hayes was on the 4th line and played for 9:25 of ice time. He had one shot on goal.

Oliver Moore

• Moore was the odd man out but he did end up getting some ice time at 4:56 minutes. I didn't get a chance to see him play.

Day 2 - 12/27/2023

Slovakia vs Switzerland
SVK wins 3-0
Next game Dec 29, 4 am
Big win for Slovakia as they go 2-0 in the tournament. This is the first time since 2002 since SVK has won back-to-back games in the tournament. Gajan had a standout game with a shutout win. His incredible save is down below.

Adam Gajan

• Saved 36 shots for a shutout.

Martin Misiak

• 2 shots on goal, 13:18 of ice time. He was on the second line.

Day 3 - 12/28/2023

USA vs Switzerland
USA wins 11-3
Next game Dec. 29, 10 am
The US spanked the Swiss 11-3. Snuggerud got a hat trick in the 1st period. Nazar logged 4 assists. Ewan Huet (son of Cristobal Huet) was eventually put in the net for Switzerland. Thought it was cool that Huet's son was playing.

Frank Nazar

• Nazar played on the second line and had 4 assists and 3 shots on goal. He played for a total of 14:13.

Gavin Hayes

• Hayes was on the 4th line and logged in an assist, 2 shots on goal, and skated for 15:19.

Sam Rinzel

• Rinzel had 1 shot on goal and skated for 15:05.

Oliver Moore

• Moore was an extra again and was able to get 11:41 of skating in.

Day 4 - 12/29/2023

USA vs Czechia
USA wins 4-3 SO
Next game Dec. 31, 5 am, Slovakia

The only noteworthy highlight regarding our prospects came from Frank Nazar. He made a great pass to notch an assist and had 3 shots on goal. Nazar has 6 points so far in the tournament. Sam Rinzel skated for 17:09 but didn't get any points or shots on goal. Oliver Moore skated for 3:11. Gavin Hayes also had no points but did get off 3 shots on goal. Hayes skated for 8:30.

Slovakia vs Norway
SVK wins 8-4
Next game Dec. 31, 5 am, USA

Slovakia keeps rolling on with the wins. Adam Gajan had his weakest game so far. He only faced 26 shots and saved 22 for a .846 SV%. For comparison, Slovakia put up 35 shots on goal. Martin Misiak put up 2 assists in this one and has 3 points so far.

Dec. 31 is when both of these teams play each other. This should be a really fun one. Unfortunately, the game is on at 5 am Central on New Year's Eve. Looks like I'll be watching the highlights for this one. Both teams have been playing very well. Slovakia has the better schedule with 3 wins and 9 points. The US has 2 wins and 1 Shootout Win for 8 points. Slovakia has scored 17 goals and the US has scored 19.

Day 5 - 12/31/2023

USA vs Slovakia
USA wins 10-2
Next up, the quarterfinals begin Jan 2.

Both of the teams that Hawks fans should care about played each other in the final game of the prelims. The US won 10-2. This was great for our US prospects, and if you're concerned about Adam Gajan taking a hit to his record, don't worry. He didn't play.

Frank Nazar got 2 assists and skated for 19:40. The best news so far? He leads all players in the World Juniors for assists with 8 and he is tied for 2nd in points (8). Sam Rinzel skated for 16:15 and got an assist in this one, his first of the tournament. Gavin Hayes skated for 3:45 and got an assist for a total of 2 points so far. Oliver Moore played his most hockey with 15:13 minutes of ice time and got an assist.

For Slovakia, the only player to care about was Martin Misiak, who skated for 18:10 and didn't log any points.

With the final game of the preliminary round over for both of our teams, the quarterfinals are up next. I'll be making a new post to follow each segment of the World Juniors so long the teams we care about are in it.

Happy New Year.

The Quarter Finals

Slovakia vs Finland

4-3 OT SVK loses

Harsh loss for Slovakia who have never beat Finland in a QF.

With 1:34 left in regulation, Finland had the lead 3-2 before Slovakia tied the game. Slovakia ultimately lost in OT.

Adam Gajan made some great saves and posted a .857 SV%. He stopped 24 of 28 shots. Misiak skated for 14:12 and had 1 shot on goal.

USA vs Latvia

7-2 USA wins

The US moves on to the semi-finals in another spanking.

Oliver Moore scored a goal and got an assist. He also had 2 shots on goal and skated for 10:27. Nazar didn't get any points and skated for 13:57 on the second line. Sam Rinzel also had no points and skated for 15:06. Gavin Hayes was the odd man out and only got 2:26 of ice time.

Results

USA vs Sweden

USA wins Gold 6-2

If there’s anything positive for Blackhawks fans this week, here it is. 4 Blackhawk prospects are on the gold medal winning team for the World Juniors. Granted, they didn’t get any points in their final game.

So, how’d they do?

Frank Nazar

Nazar was the bright spot in the tournament. He finished with the third highest amount of assists with 8 (the first two players tied at 10). He didn’t score any goals but his play making was evident and should get you excited.

Oliver Moore

Moore garners attention as a 1st Round draft pick last summer. He was rostered as the 13th forward most games but did get an assist and the lone goal for all Blackhawk prospects. He finishes with 2 assists and 1 goal.

Gavin Hayes

Hayes finished with 2 assists and led the USA team with 25 penalty minutes. Thats the 6th highest of any player in the tournament, the highest being 31 min.

Sam Rinzel

I like Rinzel. He’s a good prospect. Where he will end up, I can’t say. He finishes with 1 assist, a +3, and 8 shots on goal.

Congrats for the gold medal. Now get back to the junior leagues you nasty prospects. (They can all kick my ass)

Adam Gajan

Even though Team Slovakia got the boot, I think we can be pretty happy with Gajan’s performance. He finishes number 3 of all goaltenders with a .916 Sv% and number 6 for GAA at 2.50.

Martin Misiak

Misiak is another prospect I like. In his 5 games played he scored 3 assists.

With that said, all of our prospects contributed on the scoreboard. And if you’re curious, Celebrini finished with 8 points (4 goals and 4 assists) in his 5 games.

-DirtyThird

Sources:
SecondCityHockey
Elite Prospects
NHL.com
IIHF Website