WJC 2014 - The Rest of the Teams and What`s Next

Now that the World Junior's round-robin is completed, there's the quarterfinals, semi-finals, medal rounds and relegation to look forward to.

The puck drops tomorrow morning for quarterfinals, can't you just feel the excitement for it? I sure can. I'm absolutely stoked.
The first game of the day is USA vs Russia.
Next up, Finland vs Czech Republic.
Then, Canada vs Switzerland.
And finally, Slovakia vs Sweden to wrap it all up.
It's going to be a hell of a day.

Canada appears to have gotten the easier route to the medals, hopefully. The winner of Canada-Switzerland faces off with the winner of Finland-Czech Republic. I'm predicting either Canada or Czech Republic out of this one, obviously hoping for Canada.

The other grouping, wow, that's going to be a fight to make it out. The winner of USA-Russia faces off against the winner of Slovakia-Sweden in the semis. That is going to be brutal. I see either Russia or Sweden coming out on top, and have no idea who I hope wins it.

As for the other countries...

• Sweden
  The host country has looked absolutely untouchable. I mean, they lead their group at 12 points and it was clear no one else would win that group. Aside from having home ice advantage, the team has looked good, as per usual. They are skilled and just look worrisome to play against. If Canada can't win this tournament, I hope Sweden does. 
• Russia
  I actually haven't seen a whole lot the Russian games so far, but from what I've seen and read, they are a scary team like usual. They look like they are ready for any game and ready to win it. They have the usual Russian swagger in their game, and they have the skill to back it up. That doesn't bode well for USA in the quarterfinals. 
• USA
  The American's roster this year is BIG. They are a good team, and were undefeated up until the Canadian game. They're good, but they aren't amazingly good. Being in the grouping that they are, it is highly unlikely that they will come out on top, but who really knows considering all the upsets that have happened already. 
• Czech Republic
  The Czech team looked good, as usual too. Similar to the Americans, they are good, not amazingly good, but undeniably good. The Czechs are the guys that Canada should be wary of going into the next rounds. 
• Finland
  Finland looks decent this year. Much like the Czechs and the Americans, they've been good but not amazing. What was most telling about their game was the shootout against the Swiss team. That was the most boring shootout to ever occur. The lack of creativity and variety and moves that they showed is applicable to their game as a whole, and that should worry the Finnish players. We will see what happens though. 
• Switzerland
  The Swiss team is one that you kind of can't help but root for a little bit. They usually manage to get into a decent grouping, and they are clearly the underdogs almost every year. I know for me, I can't help but hope that they do fairly well. This year, they did fairly well by avoiding relegation. All it takes is one game to change it around though, and as much as I hope it doesn't happen against Canada, anything can happen in the World Juniors.

Best of luck to all the teams in the tournament!