A Golden Pioneer and a Cinderella story: two Avs prospects headline World Junior reboot

The 2022 World Junior Ice Hockey Championship will begin tomorrow on August 9th. It will run through the 20th in Edmonton, Alberta at Rogers Place. Team USA will look to earn back-to-back gold medals in the competition which will also host Czechia, Finland, Canada, Slovakia, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Latvia. Each team will get four games to earn placements in the quarterfinals, semifinals, and eventually medal games.

You may recall the U-20 tournament was originally scheduled for December 26th, 2021. After several games were forfeited due to COVID-19 positives, the tournament was ultimately canceled on December 29th. The rescheduled dates were announced in February and players counted on a renewed opportunity to start from scratch as tournament hopefuls for this summer. Among them are Avalanche prospects, Sean Behrens and Oskar Olausson.

We've got our squad. #WorldJuniors 🇺🇸

More → https://t.co/Mtw4GaYBjA pic.twitter.com/AphnVpkwcZ

— USA Hockey (@usahockey) August 7, 2022

Representing Team USA, 19-year-old defenseman Sean Behrens was a promising lock for the December team but was replaced by Minnesota Wild prospect Jack Peart following a positive COVID-19 test. Now both players will get a chance to compete in the tournament.

Before the WJC, Team USA hosted a National Junior Evaluation Camp at USA Hockey Arena in Michigan. The camp began on July 24th and the final roster was originally projected to be released on August 3rd. They narrowed the preliminary roster down to 27 players on July 31st, and held pre-tournament games on August 5th and 6th to narrow the roster to 25. They dropped the first game to Finland 2-5, but regrouped for a 6-1 win over Switzerland in Game 2. Behrens earned a secondary assist on the Red Savage shorthanded goal and fellow Denver Pioneer Carter Mazur scored on the PP. The roster was finalized on August 7th, and Behrens was made official.

His path to the tournament has been filled with non-stop opportunities. The 5’10” blueliner was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2021 draft 61st overall in the second round. He remains the top defensive prospect coming up the pipeline after trades around the deadline saw both Drew Helleson and Justin Barron shipped out.

In his freshman year at the University of Denver – before he knew that there was a national championship at the end of the tunnel – Behrens was hopeful that hard work would pay off even in the face of the disappointment from December.

“[On the rescheduled WJC] It’s an opportunity that I’m ready for. Hopefully that opportunity comes but at the end of the day, it’s just doing what you can do, doing what you can control. What happened in December wasn’t the best situation for me, but [it] was something that pushed me throughout the year to play as hard as I could,” he said.

We caught up with Behrens after becoming a national champion in April and saw continued progress at the Colorado Avalanche development camp which started on July 12th. A little more than a week after the conclusion of camp, he reported to the evaluation camp in Michigan.

Named three times the NCHC Defenseman of the Week, Behrens took important steps forward this year, particularly in his skating. He skates with a low center of gravity which keeps him strong in his skates – a necessary feature for an undersized defenseman – but it can limit his mobility. He’s loosened up a bit, gathering even more speed and focusing on the details of his footwork.

Billed as a high IQ player, the productive side of his game is definitely there. It was complimented by top pairing and top powerplay unit opportunities with Denver.

Finishing the year with 29 points, he was named to the NCHC All-Rookie Team. He lifted the championship trophy in front of family and friends and rode alongside Stanley Cup Champions in the parade with the organization he hopes to crack one day. Victory followed him. It’s kismet.

He’s on the slow and steady track and will return to the University of Denver for his sophomore season. For now, Behrens has a real shot to have an impact for Team USA in their chase for back-to-back gold medals – just ahead of his pursuit of back-to-back national championships at DU next year.

Now turning our attention to another prospect is 19-year-old winger Oskar Olausson who is also confirmed for Team Sweden. The up-and-coming forward has drawn comparisons to Andre Burakovsky largely due to the similar tools each possesses, but his ceiling is not yet known. He was drafted to Colorado ahead of Behrens at 28th overall in the first round. Olausson’s path to the tournament has looked a bit different.

He missed the Avalanche development camp due to travel and time constraints which brought him home to Sweden. He was named to the team on June 30th after receiving the go-ahead from the Avs. Looking at the lines preview, it appears he will have a top line role to start the tournament alongside Dallas Stars draft pick Daniel Ljungman and Boston Bruins prospect Fabian Lysell.

Klar för JVM! ✔️

Oskar Olausson, Barrie Colts, har fått klartecken att spela JVM för Sverige i Edmonton, 9-20 augusti.

Läs mer om JVM på vår hemsida: https://t.co/Th0COUf8zU #juniorkronorna #wjc2022 #jvm2022 pic.twitter.com/AkIkMLfbcJ

— Tre Kronor (@Trekronorse) June 30, 2022

Olausson hasn’t had the chance to hoist and hover around greatness the same way Behrens has this season. Though his story is different, the opportunity to break out remains his. It began with a promising showing in rookie camp and preseason where he scored two goals. Olausson’s regular season started in North America for his first year of junior pro. He split time in the OHL between the Barrie Colts and the Oshawa Generals after a trade in January.

Before he arrived in Oshawa, he was one of few who played in the December WJC before the tournament was canceled – he even opened up the scoring. He was on the top line with Alexander Holtz and William Eklund, and had 3 goals and 1 assist through the 6 games that he played.

The concern for the second half of his season became consistency – bouncing between first, second, and third line roles and battling a minor upper-body injury near the end of the year. The challenges of the Oshawa Generals were not entirely his to shoulder.

An abrupt coaching change and team-wide losing skid tested the constitutions of many. He rounded out the year with a combined 49 points and 26 goals. After Oshawa was eliminated from the playoffs, he arrived in Loveland to help the Colorado Eagles in their playoff push.

There he earned 2 assists in his professional debut on the top line. For the next 3 games, he assumed a fourth-line role with the return of Dylan Sikura. He went scoreless just as the Eagles were eliminated in the Pacific Division final by the Stockton Heat (now known as the Calgary Wranglers).

It was a true development year for Olausson. Now he has a renewed chance to rise above the challenges of this season and show us how he can compete. At 6’2″ 181 lbs., his size is formidable which makes his smooth skating a bonus. With these two things, at least in the OHL, he can keep the puck on his stick for 20-30 seconds at a time until he finds his guy. We only had a glimpse at his AHL game, and though there were a few mental lapses to be expected, he played with good pace.

And then there’s that shot that you won’t stop hearing about – especially on the powerplay. This tournament is a great place to put these things together in a stable environment where his place on the top line will allow him ample time to shine. Nothing spectacular will happen when the clock strikes midnight, but the tournament is a significant chance to leave an impression ahead of Colorado’s main camp.

There are plenty of additional reasons to tune in to the competition. When Arizona passed on Shane Wright in favor of Logan Cooley in the 2022 draft, a lot of attention turned to the 5’10” centerman. You’ll have an opportunity to watch Cooley play for Team USA to see what he’s about for yourself.

Similarly, coveted 2023 draft pick 17-year-old Connor Bedard is expected to head Canada’s top line. He just finished a 100-point season in the WHL as an assistant captain for the Regina Pats.

It begins on Tuesday. Team USA will take on Germany at 8 PM MST and the games can be found on the NHL Network.