U18 World Hockey Championship Awards

The U18 World Hockey Championships are wrapped as team USA skated away with the gold, while the Czech Republic and Canada left with silver and bronze respectively. Now that the tournament is over and the winners have been determined, it’s time to look at the award winners from the tournament.

The IIHF U18 handed awards out to the best goaltender, defenceman and best forward from the tournament.

Best Goaltender- Mason McDonald – Canada

Kind of crazy to think that team Canada had no scorers in the top 15 of tournament scoring, yet had the best goaltender in the tournament. I guess this is good news for Canada who has been struggling between the pipes at U18 tournaments as of late. Mason McDonald had a strong tournament for Canada going 4-2-0-0 with a 1.75 Goals Against Average and .936 Save Percentage.

McDonald is draft eligible this season and is regarded as the second best goaltender available, hopefully his strong play means more gold for Canada at the World Championships. McDonald has been playing in QMJHL with the Charlottetown Islanders however has not found much success as he usually focuses on blocking the puck rather than stopping it. Hopefully his success at the U18’s will lead to more success in his own career.

Best Defenceman- Haydn Fleury- Canada

Despite only winning the bronze medal, Canada has their second top tournament member in defenceman Haydn Fleury. The Red Deer Rebels defenceman recorded just 1point throughout the tournament but played solid defence for Canada throughout.

Best Forward- William Nylander- Sweden

Budding superstar William Nylander was named the top forward from the tournament after he recorded 16 points in the 7 games. Unfortunately his effort wasn’t enough to power Sweden to a medal, however it should help up his stock ahead of the NHL draft. He’s a skilled forward who knows how to produce, what team wouldn’t want that?