ROSEN, KULICH OFF TO HOT START AT WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
Dec 28, 2022By Suzie Cool
While the Rochester Americans are back in action tonight for the first time in 11 days, we’d be remiss if we didn’t catch you up on the action happening north of the border at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championships.
Two weeks ago, Amerks rookie forwards Isak Rosen and Jiri Kulich were named to Sweden and Czech Republic’s rosters for the annual tournament and were officially loaned by the Buffalo Sabres to their team respective national teams last week. Since the World Juniors action kicked off on Monday, the duo has been performing as expected.
“We have watched and we're certainly very happy and proud of how Jiri Kulich and Isak Rosen are playing,” said Amerks head coach Seth Appert when asked how he thinks the rookies are doing in tournament play.
“It’s a long tournament, so they still have a lot of work to do, but those are things that we challenge them on and I've been texting them on since they've been there. All the things they've gotten better at here – playing on the inside, attacking the nets, getting to the hard areas, playing harder without the puck and how you forecheck and how physical you need to play to be a good player in the American League and, eventually, the NHL – don't just go back now to your own age group and just be a skilled player, be a physically engaged, dominant 200-foot player.”
Engaged. Dominant. Skilled. Those are just a few words to describe how Rosen and Kulich have attacked the tournament so far.
Rosen and Sweden made a statement in their first game of the tournament on Monday, with Rosen scoring twice and adding an assist in an 11-0 thrashing over Austria.
Sweden has gone on to win both its games in the tournament so far, picking up another win yesterday over Germany.
The Czech Republic and Kulich have followed suit with back-to-back wins to start off the tournament. Despite Kulich not registering a point in Czech’s 5-2 opening win over Canada, the Amerks newcomer delivered a hat trick against Austria last night in helping propel Czechia to a 9-0 victory.
“You could see the excitement when I talked to them (Kulich and Rosen) about how we were going to support them,” Appert stated when discussing the opportunity Kulich and Rosen currently have at the World Juniors. “We know how special it is to put your jersey on for your country. You never know when you're going to get a chance to wear your national team's jersey again, and when you get to put it on, it's extremely special. All those guys have opportunities to lead their countries to medals. We wanted them to embrace it, to take their habits to it, but also really enjoy how special it is to play for your country.”
For now, both Rosen and Kulich remain undefeated in the World Juniors Championship, however, one’s fate will change on Thursday when Sweden and Czechia face-off at 2:30 p.m.
And while Rosen and Kulich have tonight off, the Amerks are back in action after the holiday break and taking on a very familiar foe in the Utica Comets. Puck drops at 7:05 p.m. at The Blue Cross Arena and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV. The contest can also be viewed live locally on CW Rochester.