The IIHF World Championships are always entertaining to watch throughout the start of the offseason. However, for Chicago Blackhawks fans, it was made for more “must-see” viewing, as two of their players, Frank Nazar and Alex Vlasic (Team USA), faced Switzerland for the Gold medal and won. USA’s first gold medal in 92 years at the Worlds!
Better yet, they continued to make names for themselves in the tournament, which is crucial for their development.
Nazar Continues to Make Noise
With Nazar, he ended the Blackhawks’ season on a high note with nine points in his last eight games and was one of the Blackhawks’ biggest “X-factors.” So, seeing his continued success at the Worlds was not surprising.
Nazar was sixth-best in the tournament in points- 12 points in 10 games, and was a plus-7. For reference, the tournament leader, David Pastrňák, had 15 points in eight games for Team Czechia. So, he wasn’t far behind. Nazar was also the leading scorer on Team USA, and named one of the top-three players of the tournament for USA, alongside Logan Cooley (Utah Mammoth) and Conor Garland (Vancouver Canucks).
During his exit interviews in April, Nazar mentioned wanting to work this summer on getting stronger and faster and improving his overall game, and it seems he is off to a good start.
After Team USA’s 6-0 win over Hungary, where Nazar had two goals and an assist, Nazar said, “It felt really good, obviously. There’s nothing like scoring a goal and getting that feeling, especially after the NHL season’s over, continuing to score and just build that confidence and feel good out there on the ice.”
Nazar also seems to be having the impact on USA that he has on the Blackhawks, being the jack of all trades on special teams, and when his team needed a big goal, it was expected he would show up.
Tage Thompson (Buffalo Sabres) said about his USA teammate Nazar, “He’s been great. I love his game. Works extremely hard, moves his feet, shoots, gets to the net. All the things you want out of a guy, and he’s been doing them consistently, so it’s been big.”
Vlasic Maintains Steady Presence
When it comes to Vlasic, he had more of a quiet tournament, and that’s a compliment. He has two assists and is a plus-three in 10 games, while averaging over 16 minutes a game. He has mainly been on the second or third pairing defense, and I noticed he had his moments that have made him so important to the Blackhawks. Whether it’s stopping the opponent from getting a clean shot off, taking up space, and he even had a couple of big hits, too. He has been effective in his role, which has been nice to see. He continues to be steady.
Vlasic was looking forward to this tournament, after attending last year, and had high praise for his USA team, “We have so many guys up front that can absolutely fly. And we’ve got some big, mobile defensemen back on the defensive front. So I think we’ve got a good team composition.”
The great thing about the World Championships is that they can be a confidence builder, as Nazar alluded to. Knowing Vlasic and Nazar had impressive showings, with a Gold medal to match, should bode well for them going into the summer and next season in Chicago.
As for the other Blackhawks in the tournament, Teuvo Teräväinen (Finland) had six assists in a game against Slovenia, which tied the tournament record. (11 points in 7 games overall- team leader). Lukas Reichel (Germany) only played in three games due to injury, but had four points in that span. Arvid Söderblom (Sweden) was the third goalie and didn’t play, but Sweden defeated Denmark for the Bronze medal, so he left with some hardware.
