USA Falls Short at World Juniors, But Riemer Shines
When Team USA faced Canada in the World Junior Hockey Championship on New Year's Eve, the Americans were riding high and looking for an upset over essentially the home team of the tournament. USA hung in there for awhile, leading the Canadians early, but they couldn't hold on, and after losing to Slovakia in their next contest, the tourney was over for the Americans. Canada ended up with the gold, defeating Sweden for their fifth straight title.
Despite the relatively early exit, there were some bright spot for Team USA. Paramount among them for Flyers fans was the play of James vanRiemsdyk, who finished the tournament with 6 goals and 4 assists in 6 games. Not bad.
In addition to being named USA Today's Olympic athlete of the week, Riemer was second behind Jordan Schroeder for the team lead in points, but scored 3 more goals. The highlight had to be this one...
Won't be long before this kid's done with his schoolwork and ready to join the Flyers...
I never really understood how the entry draft works. Does he finish college and then join the flyers/phantoms or can he choose to leave college whenever?
Posted by: Ben | Wednesday, January 07, 2009 at 10:55 PM
@ Ben
It really comes down to how the Flyers want to handle him. Either he can go back to school where he was playing before this tournament, or the Flyers can move him into a minor league. That might be the best bet, since the competition will be tougher than in the college game.
Posted by: David F. | Thursday, January 08, 2009 at 12:02 AM
He has a say, too. If he wants to stay in college, he can. I don't believe he has signed a contract yet.
Posted by: Zach | Thursday, January 08, 2009 at 12:45 AM
I remember an interview with him around the beginning of the season and said he planned to stay collegiate this season. Pretty sure he stated he would come out after this school year. Of course this was months ago.
Posted by: Ghost of Garth Snow | Thursday, January 08, 2009 at 01:06 AM
It really is amazing how much talent we have in the farm system.
Posted by: Pete | Thursday, January 08, 2009 at 02:12 AM
Here's a story about it...
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/flyers/20090106_Flyers_prospect_van_Riemsdyk_won_t_commit_to_NHL_just_yet.html
Holmgren doesn't sound too enthusiastic!
Posted by: David F. | Thursday, January 08, 2009 at 02:30 AM
Its a shame hes wasting his talent at UNH right now. I watched a few of the world cup games and there is def a lot of potential there, he's big, lots of skill...but hes not progressing at UNH, disappointing that he'd rather party (idk why else to stay in school) then take advantage of the talent he was born with.
Posted by: Matt S | Thursday, January 08, 2009 at 09:03 AM
Actually, JvR played poorly in the tournament compared to expectations. Last year he was phenomenal but this year his play was largely uninspired. Homer and others in the flyers system were very unhappy with his play.
Posted by: j | Thursday, January 08, 2009 at 09:20 AM
@J: What's your source on Homer and the others in the system being "very unhappy"? I'm not saying it's not true, but it's a huge statement that needs some backing.
If it's just the Inq article, I wouldn't put too much stock into that quote. Right now, JVR is unsigned. Homer's not going to give him a ringing endorsement if he's not inked, and clearly they aren't happy he's at UNH and not in the system.
We've seen the Flyers publicly issue challenging words about young potential stars before... John Stevens' description of Claude Giroux coming out of camp was verbatim the exact same as Homer's quote about Riemer today. It was "just OK." It might very well be true, but my guess is they're saying it publicly for a different reason than simply its veracity.
I'd definitely like to know more about the situation though—his play at Juniors (I only saw parts of 2 games, but he looked good to me)—and the Flyers take on him.
Posted by: Matt P. | Thursday, January 08, 2009 at 10:14 AM
Yeah, I don't know if people watched, but outside of the late goal against Slovakia, JVR looked like absolute shit in that game. He was slow, often beat to the buch and wasn't physical at all.
Posted by: Justin Evans | Thursday, January 08, 2009 at 02:55 PM
Matt,
Claude Giroux looked "just okay" in camp and to start the season with the Phantoms. He only picked it up over the last month or so.
Reimer has nice stats for UNH, but there are guys from that draft who are putting up those #s in the NHL.
Posted by: Justin Evans | Thursday, January 08, 2009 at 02:58 PM
btw, I don't know why I put "buch", I meant puck.
Reimer had some moments in the tournament, but he wasn't exactly playing to his expectations for a #2 pick in his 2nd year of the tournament.
Posted by: Justin Evans | Thursday, January 08, 2009 at 03:02 PM
Oh I don't disagree with the "just OK" assessment. I didn't get to see the camp or any of Riemer's games at UNH, so I wouldn't feign to know much about that. I'm just sayin... I think there's a method to their words and deeds, not that it's sinister or anything. I think it's as much a motivator as anything else, which is key with young guys who might otherwise get inflated egos and get lazy. With JVR, it could also help with contract expectations.
But I asked for confirmation/source material of the club's feelings bc if that's true—that they're very unhappy with his progress—that's another story all together.
Posted by: Matt P. | Thursday, January 08, 2009 at 03:13 PM
I don't think that they're unhappy with his progress, but moreso think that him staying in college another year really just made his progress go lateral instead of forward.
Posted by: Justin Evans | Thursday, January 08, 2009 at 09:46 PM
van riemsdyk has outperformed giroux on every stage so shut up with that.. james is the real deal
Posted by: Mark Ferrante | Wednesday, February 04, 2009 at 04:06 PM