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World Juniors 2019: How Blackhawks players performed

Posted on by Brandon Cain

Seven players within the Blackhawks organization played at the World Junior Championship in Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia.

Here’s a recap on how each player did:

Evan Barratt (F) — USA, 2017 third-rounder

Stats: 1 goal, 25 shots on goal, 52 percent on faceoffs

Barratt started off the tournament with a bang, scoring the game-winning goal in the United States’ win over Slovakia in the preliminary round. In his final six games, however, Barratt did not record a point. It wasn’t for a lack of trying as he put the second most shots on goal on the team with 25.

Barratt will report back to Penn State, where he’ll look to help the Nittany Lions make the NCAA tournament for a third consecutive season.

Adam Boqvist (D) — Sweden, ’18 first-rounder

Stats: 1 goal, 3 assists, 20 shots on goal

Boqvist played top-four minutes for Sweden, and his highlight of the tournament was scoring the game-winning goal in overtime against Team USA.

Boqvist’s point total was second on the team to forward Emil Bemstrom (Columbus) with fellow blue liners Erik Brannstrom (Vegas) and Rasmus Sandin (Toronto). Bemstrom and Brannstrom each scored four goals.

Boqvist heads back to the London Knights in the OHL, where he scored eight goals in his last eight games prior to the tournament.

MacKenzie Entwistle (RW) — Canada, ’17 third-rounder

Stats: 3 goals

Entwistle played on the fourth line and on the penalty kill for the reigning champions. He scored a goal in each of his first three games in the preliminary round, but didn’t score in his last two games. Team Canada head coach Mark Hunter barely used him with 8:25 of ice time per game, but when put on the ice Entwistle made it count.

Entwistle didn’t waste any time after Canada’s quarterfinal loss to Finland on Thursday, scoring the game-winning goal with an assist and four shots on goal for Hamilton in the OHL the next night. On Saturday, he was traded to the Guelph Storm for five draft picks.

Jakub Galvas (D) — Czech Republic, ’17 fifth-rounder

Stats: 1 assist, 21:33 TOI

Galvas is one of the exceptions among the Blackhawks defensemen prospects — he’s more of a defensive player. In his second World Juniors appearance, he served as an alternate captain and led his team in ice time (21:33). He had one assist and five shots on goal in five games.

The 19-year-old Galvas heads back to HC Olomouc in the Czech Republic’s top division. He has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in 26 games this season.

Henri Jokiharju (D) — Finland, ’17 first-rounder

Stats: 2 power play goals, 3 assists, 22:32 TOI

In took eight and half months, but Jokiharju finally scored a goal. The defenseman tallied the opening goal for Finland against Slovakia for his first goal since April 12, 2018, in a WHL playoff game for Portland.

Jokiharju assisted on Kaapo Kakko’s golden goal with 1:12 left as Finland beat the U.S. 3-2.

Jokiharju was voted one of Finland’s best players by the coaches, too. He won’t be in the Blackhawks’ lineup Sunday, but could return Monday against Calgary in Chicago.

Philipp Kurashev (F) — Switzerland, ’18 fourth-rounder

Stats: 6 goals, 1 assist, 15:42 TOI

Kurashev led the tournament in goals with six and shots on goal with 28. He scored four of his goals on the power play and one game-winner. He tallied a hat trick in Switzerland’s 4-0 win over Denmark, who was relegated.

Here’s every goal Kurashev scored.

Kurashev’s strong performance in the tournament earned him player of the game honors twice and All-Star tournament honors. He’ll report back to the Quebec Remparts in the QMJHL, where he leads them in scoring with 43 points (18 goals, 25 assists) in 33 games.

Ian Mitchell (D) — Canada, ’17 second-rounder

Stats: 1 goal, 2 assists, 15:42 TOI

Mitchell’s No. 1 goal this past offseason was to make Canada’s World Juniors team. The University of Denver sophomore made the team, and proved he was worth of the highly-coveted spot by contributing on both ends.

Mitchell scored the opening goal in Canada’s quarterfinal loss to Finland.

Mitchell, who turns 20 on Jan. 18, is already contributing after the tournament, with three assists and five shots on goal in two games for the Pioneers.

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