Sweden defeated the Czech Republic 6 to 3 today at the World Junior Championships.
2010 6th round pick Jesper Fasth had two goals in the win while 2009 5th round pick Roman Horak took two penalties.
Fasth has three goals and one assist in the tournament. Horak hasn’t registered a point.
…Not a great tournament for Roman Horak so far, but Jesper Fasth is only building the hype, for me, with his play so far
WARNING, Audio Is Not In English but click to watch speedy Fasth score his goal
Sweden defeated Norway 7-1 in their opening round game at the World Junior Championships.
2010 sixth round pick Jesper Fasth had an assist on Sweden’s sixth goal scored by Tim Erixon.
Fasth is wearing number 18 for Sweden and had one shot in the first period.
Sweden next plays Russia on Tuesday.
Canada defeated Russia 6-3 today.
..I have been sitting on this link since last week, just waiting for the right time.Fasth was the Rangers 6th round pick this past June and will play for Sweden at the World Junior Championships this month.
In addition to Chris Kreider and Ryan Bourque being named to the preliminary roster for Team USA, Rangers prospects Jesper Fasth (Sweden) and Roman Horak (Czech Republic) have been invited to their respective countries preliminary camps for the World Junior Champions according to the team.
Horak had15 goals and 19 assists for Chilliwack of the WHL. Last year playing for the Czech Republic at the WJC, Horak had one goal and one assist with seven shots on goal and was a minus four in six games. Horak was the Rangers 5th round pick in 2009.
Fasth has four goals and four assists in 24 games for HV71 i the Swedish Elite league. He was the Rangers 6th round pick in 2010.
…The European guys intrigue me and I hope to see them perform at this tournament.
…I got way too excited about this when I clicked and saw he scored. Still, I have irrationally high hopes for this years sixth round pick. Hope he continues to put up points
In the 6th round, the Rangers took Swedish winger Jesper Fasth, and in the 7th round, they took Randy McNaught from Saskatoon.
Fasth is 6-foot, 176 pounds, and scored 23 goals and 26 assists last season for his HV71 J20 team.
…Love this pick. Love getting a Swedish scorer with decent size and scoring in the 6th round. Not saying it goes anywhere, but this pick is only upside as far as I am concerned.
McNaught is a 6-5 221 RW who played last season with the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL. He had 6 goals, 6 assists and 131 PIMS.
…So the moral of the this draft was making the Rangers tough and adding a lot of size. There was skill with Thomas and hopefully this Swedish player, but a lot of size. Henrik Lundqvist was run into too much this season, and they were knocked around enough that they wanted this to be part of the direction of the team.
They have a lot of skill in young players on the team and in the system that they could go in this direction this year. Dylan McIlrath, whether you like the pick or not, gives them a banger back on the blue line for the first time since Jeff Beukeboom. Not a sexy draft; that was saved for the Islanders. The Isles took Nino Niederreiter, Brock Nelson, ANNOUNCED BY E FROM ENTOURAGE, and then Kirill Kabanov in the third round.
After the jump, courtesy of Dagoon44 on twitter, is video of McNaught fighting:
According to Bob Crawford, the Whale play by play person, Jesper Fast is banged up and reportedly out for the rest of the regular season.
The Whale, including tonight, have five more games left season. They play three this weekend and two next weekend.
They are in seventh place in the Eastern Conference.
Fast scored a goal in his first game with the Whale but hasn’t played since.
For more on Fast, CLICK HERE.
According to the AHL Transaction wire, the Rangers have sent Jesper Fast down to Hartford.
Fast practiced with the Rangers yesterday but he may need to return to Sweden by 4/15.
9:29AM: Bob Crawford of the Whale noted a couple of days ago that Fast was rehabbing an injury.
9:27AM: At Newsday, Steve Zipay writes that the Rangers will make a decision this week on where Jesper Fast will play the rest of this season.
Zipay says that the team will determine this week whether Fast will join the Rangers or play in Hartford.
Fast came to NY this past week while the Rangers have been on their road trip.
THIS SECTION is all about Fast.
Adam Rotter: The Rangers created a roster spot by sending Kris Newbury down, but they seem to have their forwards for the final 14 games set. The decision could be whether to have Fast play in the AHL as the Whale look to make a run in the playoffs or to have him return to Sweden and play in the World Championships. I would think the Rangers would want Fast to play in Hartford so that they could watch him and start to acclimate him to the smaller ice and Rangers style of play.
