{"id":459548,"date":"2024-12-29T08:40:29","date_gmt":"2024-12-29T13:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=459548"},"modified":"2024-12-29T08:40:29","modified_gmt":"2024-12-29T13:40:29","slug":"wjc-predictions-dec-29-united-states-vs-finland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/12\/29\/wjc-predictions-dec-29-united-states-vs-finland\/","title":{"rendered":"WJC Predictions: Dec 29 United States vs Finland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to the return World Junior Predictions. The elite Under-20 showcase features plenty of players that could become NHL superstars. Last Word on Hockey takes a look at the games and breaks down the head-to-head matchups and other factors that play in. We also have a featured game of the day, which is considered must-watch TV. Today\u2019s featured game of WJC Predictions is United States<\/a> vs Finland<\/a>. Be sure to check out more WJC predictions in the coming days as the 2025 event continues.<\/p>\n

Also check out the later edition of the WJC predictions featuring the evening session of games.<\/p>\n

WJC Predictions<\/h2>\n

Sweden vs Switzerland<\/h3>\n

Time:<\/strong> Noon Eastern Standard Time (EST)<\/p>\n

TV:<\/strong> NHL Network; TSN<\/p>\n

Sweden So Far<\/h4>\n

We start off WJC predictions with Sweden taking on Switzerland in this Group B game. Sweden is coming into the game with a pair of victories to top the group. The Swedes look like a medal favourite, but know the Swiss are a tough side.<\/p>\n

Detroit Red Wings<\/a> prospect Axel Sandin Pellikka has been one of the tournament’s top scorers with three goals and an assist. Buffalo Sabres<\/a> draftee Anton Wahlberg is also among the tourney’s leaders in points so far.<\/p>\n

Switzerland So Far<\/h4>\n

The Swiss come into this game with a pair of losses to both Czechia and Slovakia. Offence has been a problem as Switzerland has only scored once in each game. Switzerland played better against Slovakia, but still came away with a loss.<\/p>\n

The Swiss still have a chance to make the quarterfinals, but will likely draw one of the heavyweights in that round.<\/p>\n

Prediction<\/h3>\n

Sweden looks like it could win the group, so they should get the victory. A Sweden win could set up a showdown with Czechia for control of Group B on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Sweden wins 5-1.<\/em><\/p>\n

Finland vs United States<\/h3>\n

Time:<\/strong> 2:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)<\/p>\n

TV:<\/strong> NHL Network; TSN4<\/p>\n

Finland So Far<\/h4>\n

Our featured game of WJC predictions has Finland taking on the United States. Finland lost the opener to host Canada. However, they had a nice 3-1 win to bounce back against Germany.<\/p>\n

Petteri Rimpinen has been the starter in both games for the Finns. Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> prospect Emil Pieniniemi has been one of the better defensive players and has a goal to show for it.<\/p>\n

USA So Far<\/h4>\n

The United States comes into the game as the Group A leaders. We’ve seen the American offence put up 15 goals against Germany and Latvia. However, the degree of difficulty gets harder with games against Finland and Canada.<\/p>\n

Washington Capitals<\/a> pick Cole Hutson leads the team in points.<\/a> However, projected top overall pick James Hagens<\/a> has been wowing the crowds in Ottawa as well. USA’s offence has been great, but they can’t get caught looking ahead to Canada.<\/p>\n

Prediction<\/h3>\n

Finland will want to turn this into a grind-it-out game. If the United States gets out to an early lead, it could make the Finns have to play with more offence in mind.<\/p>\n

Prediction: United States wins 4-2.<\/em><\/p>\n

Main photo by: David Reginek-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to the return World Junior Predictions. The elite Under-20 showcase features plenty of players that could become NHL superstars. Last Word on Hockey takes a look at the games and breaks down the head-to-head matchups and other factors that play in. We also have a featured game of the day, which is considered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2352,"featured_media":459549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5744,4547,304,4548,3462,309],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-459548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-juniors","category-hockey","category-international-hockey","category-nhl","category-nhl-prospects","category-nhl-top-prospects"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459548"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":459550,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459548\/revisions\/459550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}