USA suffers upset loss to Czechia, Matthew Knies very pedestrian for Team USA
Team USA was upset 4-2 by Czechia last night in the quarterfinals of the World Juniors ending their chances of defending their gold medal from the 2021 tournament. Going into the tournament, USA was expected to at least make the semifinals, but after a dominant round robin, they didn't look like themselves against the Czechs.
Knies, while collecting an assist on USA's first goal of the game, was highly pedestrian against the Czechs. His best game came against Sweden to end the round robin, where he was a physical force. Knies, who skated on the States' second line with Logan Cooley and Matt Coronato, was expected to be an offensive star for them during the tournament but managed to register only 3 assists in 5 games. While he had moments of dominance using his size, skill and hockey IQ throughout the tournament, overall it was an underwhelming performance from an offensive standpoint.
From an overall play standpoint, I thought he was fine. The issue might even have been his deployment as a pure bulldog along the walls and a net front presence to create havoc in front of the opposing goaltenders. Many of the rush chances fell to Cooley and Coronato and while Knies did see some shooting attempts in the round robin, he did not see nearly as many touches in the offensive zone against Czechia, who worked very hard to take away the time and space for a desperate US team.
His underwhelming tournament should not be looked at as a step back in his development though, as Knies had played a ton of hockey over the last year. The World Juniors in December, Olympics, Frozen Four, and Leafs development camp, which took place right before he attended the States' selection camp. It's hard to take anything out this tournament to assess where Knies' game is at.
Knies will now have some time off before he heads back to the University of Minnesota where he and the Gophers will take another crack at an NCAA title.
| POLL | ||
AOUT 18 | 242 ANSWERS USA suffers upset loss to Czechia, Matthew Knies very pedestrian for Team USA Are you worried about Matthew Knies after a mediocre showing at the World Juniors? | ||
| Yes, I expected more | 63 | 26 % |
| No, he'll be fine | 136 | 56.2 % |
| I didn't watch many of the US games | 43 | 17.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
