USA Struggling in World Juniors

The United States is struggling in the 2012 World Junior U-21 Tournament held in Alberta, Canada.

The Americans got off to a strong start with an 11-3 win over the Danes, but in their latest game the United States were unable to finish scoring chances and lost to Finland 4-1.

The game got off to a slow start with no scoring in the first period. Finland broke through US backup goalie John Gibson in the 2nd. American coach Dean Blias decided to rest the starting and WJC veteran goalie Jack Campbell in the 2nd game of the tournament.

While keeping your top goalie rested is always a tough task, Campbell is able to handle the workload and in my opinion if he was healthy he should have suited up against the Fins.

Despite the questioning of Blais' decision to start Gibson the game was not decided by the goaltending. Gibson played a solid game despite the score.

The USA were able to control most of the 2nd period after the Fins took the lead. They had many scoring chances and were unable to finish the deal until early in the third period when Brandon Saad was able to hit the back of the net to tie up the game.

However, the game turned with a pivotal goal by Sabres prospect Joel Armia midway through the third. This proved to be the game winning goal for Team Finland.

The star of the game was Armia who scored two for Finland. Armia was drafted in the first round in the 2011 draft by the Sabres and looks to make an impact in the NHL in the coming years.

While the loss hurts the Americans' chances of advancing to the knock out rounds the United States are still in a position to advance or even win the group.

They have games left versus the Czech Republic (Friday at 3:30pm, NHL Net) and versus rival and tournament favorite Canada (Saturday at 8:00pm, NHL Net).

If the Americans are able to win both of those games in regulation the United States will most likely earn a bye into the semi-finals.

If they beat the Czechs they will only need to reach OT versus Canada to assure themselves a spot in the playoff rounds.