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*bobdigi9* · 04-01-2024, 04:42 AM

Bibbidi.

Bobbidi.

Fuck.

A tale as old as time. No, that's not the one. Once upon a time, yeah that's it, once upon a time there was a young girl who got shit on by everyone. In this case, the young girl happens to be Team World. Team World was invited to a fancy ball and with the help of some fashion savvy mice and birds, they whipped together a real kick ass dress to impress. Then some nasty c***s came along and tore it all to shreds.

For our narrative, that dress was last season's WJC Team World team. A team that finished at the bottom of the standings. At their lowest point, the "embodiment of their hope" arrived in the form of their Fairy General Managers. ZootTx and bobdigi9 waved their magic composite wands and went to work. They transformed their roster into a fancy ass coach complete with horses, a coachman and a footman (because of course you need a footman). Of course, they were dressed in a beautiful silvery jersey (it's silver, not blue) and glass hockey skates (doesn't seem super safe but oh well).

[Image: giphy.gif]

We all know how this ends. We go to the party, meet Prince Charming (or princess or just some rando that we think is cool), we have to bail because of stupid magic rules, but don't worry because homie is going to rock up and put his foot fetish on full display and just creep everyone out by asking them to try on this skate to see if it fits until he finds his true love (because that's how shoe sizing works, right?)

Alas, this is not how things played out for Team World. In the role of hideously nasty stepsisters was Team Norden who decided they would flip the script and ruin the story for everyone. Except for themselves (honestly, congrats Team Norden. I mean, you ugly as hell but you've got the gold so good job).

Fairy tales aside, it was a solid effort by a group of rag tags and misfits brought together from all ends of the world. Just how were they able to write their very own happily ever after? Well.....

ROUND ROBIN

A record of 7-0-5 was enough to propel TW up the standings and finish 3rd overall. Halfway through with a record of 4-0-2-0, World had already beaten their mark from the season prior where they finished 3-0-8-1. In just the second game, Jack Keigan put the rest of the tournament on notice when he exploded for 5 goals that culminated in a 9-1 rout of Team Rhine. With only 3 points throughout the whole of the S74 WJC, Keigan was eager to prove to his teammates that he could be relied upon offensively. He did that in a big way, leading the team with 17 points (9-8-17) at the end of round robin play.
There were some worries along the way though. United States Blue proved to be a thorn in their side, beating them twice including the tournament opener and later on a 10-4 drubbing. Against Team Norden their record was 2-2, losing the last two of those matchups which foreshadowed the eventual outcome.
Stavros Kondos had a great tournament (more on him in a second) notching 7 goals and 13 points, along with 3 game winning goals Goaltending, on the other hand, was a bit of a mixed bag which saw both netminders finish with similar stats (Song Ju-gong - 3.45 GAA, .895 SP% // Karter Mendenhall - 3.40 GAA, .883 SP%). The main takeaway was their win-loss record though, which saw Ju-gong having the edge with a superior 5-2-0 vs Mendenhall's 2-3-0. With the team playing a more inspired brand of hockey in front of their South Korean goalie, it was Ju-gong who was selected to be the starter for the elimination round.

ELIMINATION ROUND

With their 3rd place ranking, Team World went into their first game of the elimination round against Czechia with a bit of swagger. This was evident in their play on the ice which saw them emerge as the victors with a shutout against the Czechs. Stavros Kondos stepped up in a big way, playing a part in each of the three goals scored. His first of the game would end up being the GWG and he finished the game with 2-1-3 statline. Perhaps even more impressive was the play of the team's defense as a whole, limiting Czechia to just 13 shots the entire game. Although not tested often, Ju-gong was good enough when had to be.

That setup a match with Canada Red in the semis. This was nearly a duplicate effort from their previous effort against Czechia, downing the Canadians 3-1. World's defense was on point again, holding Canada to just 16 shots on net. Ju-gong wasn't tested early, facing only 9 shots over the course of the first two periods, but made some great saves in the third to stymie the Canadians efforts and prevent them from swinging the momentum. Recent #1 overall pick Jamie Fraser showed why he was worth all the hype, potting 2 goals including the game-winner with Kondos earning the primary on each.

As previously noted, the Gold Medal game saw Team World faceoff against Team Norden. Norden, the gold medal winners from the year previous, were likely the favourites going despite only managing to just squeak into the elimination round. This matchup did not disappoint and was all you could ask for in a championship game. After falling behind 1-0 after the first period, Team World stormed back with goals by Jimothee Penjiman and, who else, Kondos. For awhile, it seemed like it would be enough but experienced Norden squad refused to give up and sent wave after wave of offense against Team World and with just under 4 minutes remaining in the game they scored the equaliser to force overtime.
One period of extra time wasn't enough to determine a winner, so the two exhausted teams took to the ice for a fifth frame of battle. At the 9:32 mark, Florian Söderberg-Motyla broke the hears of Worldians(?) everywhere and scored the gold medal winning goal.

While you'll be familiar with the fairy tale referenced at the beginning of this article, you'll be just as familiar with the scene at the conclusion of the gold medal game. Gloves, sticks and helmets flying in the air, a doggy-pile of players in sheer rapture over their accomplishments while another group of players sit and lay nearly motionless, in disbelief at having come so far only to fall short of their ultimate goal. There really is no more bittersweet moment in all of sports. And while the claim of silver medal winners is a great accomplishment that Team World should be proud of, it will take a long time for the sting to wear off from this defeat.

Fairy tales do come true. It just depends on who is telling the story.

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***Ohtaay*** · 04-03-2024, 09:11 PM

Nice write up!!

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