The World Junior Championships are far from over but I wanted to take a look at the defensive pairings of the teams and see how things are shaking out so far. I broke things into four categories: Points/60, Hits/60, PIMs/60, and Blocks/60. I ignored any pairing that had a 0% playing time on the team lines in the sim. I also didn't differentiate any PP or PK time. So, these numbers aren't entirely accurate but I think they are close enough to get a good idea of what pairs are working and which aren't. One small weird spot is if a player plays on two different pairings, Tig Murphy and Kiko Rytmeyr for example, this could inflate their number together as it is not their primary pairing but all their stats are put into this secondary pairing.

Spreadsheet if interested:
D Pairs

Top 5 Points/60 Pairings
1. Maximilian Egger Cassius Darrow (GER/AUS) 2.57 P/60
2. Basil Magnicotta Nikolai Evans  (TW) 2.21 P/60
3. Barret McCarthy Craig Finley (USA) 2.13 P/60
4. Charlie Schieck Taurus Karazija (CZE) 2.03 P/60
5. Tig Murphy Kiko Rytmeyr (BI) 1.89 P/60

So far in the tournament there is a very balanced top 5 in regards to points. Egger and Darrow are the premier pairing in terms of offensive production. Unfortunately for Team Germany/Austria is that their other pairing are nowhere near as much of a threat as this one. The Egger/Darrow pairing is producing more than three times as much as the other two. 

Only two teams currently don't have a defense pairing in the top ten for P/60, Canada and Latvia. This is a bigger problem for Latvia seeing that that have the worst goal differential in the tournament. A little bit more help from their back end could really change their lives in the tourney.

Top 5 Hits/60 Pairings 
1. David Vent Andrej Doskocil (CZE) 6.29 H/60
2. Pavel Pivonka Kristof Kovacs (CZE) 5.16 H/60
3. Phil Mcrakin Kyle Corbett (CAN) 4.8 H/60
4. Karl Von Wittelsbach Nico Wallner (GER/AUS) 4.51
5. Bernik Vrzala Kevin Maddox (CZE) 4.43

Vent, Doskocil, Pivonka, Kovacs, Vrzala, and Maddox are putting the check back in Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia is leading the tournament in wins, goals for, goal differential, and hits. They are playing a skilled and heavy game that is grinding opponents down. No other team has three pairings in the top ten for H/60. The USA, Canada, and Germany/Austria all have two pairings in the top 10. The British Isles and Team World both play the least physical team with the bottom 4 of the list being made up of their pairings.

Top 5 Shot Blocks/60 Pairings
1. Desmond Carey Guy Zheng (BI) 4.5 SB/60
2. Benois Miniscule Marco Raanteli (LAT) 4.4 SB/60
3. Jacob Geza Stolp Skottson (SCA) 4.24 SB/60
4. Tig Murphy Dominic Montgomery (BI) 3.88 SB/60
5. Dinars Briedis Cash Considerations (LAT) 3.84 SB/60

Although they haven't had the greatest tournament so far, Latvia is the best shot blocking team in the tournament. Two pairings in the top five and all three in the top ten. This is most likely a result of play being brought to them but they are making a valiant effort getting into shooting lanes. It is interesting that the three least physical teams dominate the SB/60 rankings. It should be noted that Team Czechoslovakia has all four of their pairings in the top 15. Defense wins championships, boys.

Top 5 Penalty Minutes/60
1. David Vent Andrej Doskocil (CZE) 5.18 PIMs/60
2. Bernik Vrzala Kevin Maddox (CZE) 4.22 PIMs/60
3. Pierre Laroche-Durocher Jean-Pierre Gay (CAN) 4 PIMs/60
4. Nat Emerson Slip McScruff (USA) 3.95 PIMs/60
5. Desmond Carey Guy Zheng (BI) 2.89 PIMs/60

The bad boys of the tournament. Team Czechoslovakia's physical play does have its downsides when it comes to this statistic. Czechoslovakia's powerful offense has been able to cover any problems that arise from their penalties but other teams may not be so lucky. These guys need to clean up their games to help their teams in the rest of the tournament.

These are the guys that you should really be paying attention to on the back end for the rest of the tournament. They could be making waves in the international scene for a long time to come.

(787 words, spreadsheet)