World Juniors: NYR Prospect J.T. Miller Update

Checking in on the progress of Rangers prospect J.T. Miller throughout this World Junior Championship in Russia.  To recap, Miller produced a solid opening game vs Germany where he scored a goal en route to a 8-0 USA victory.  The Americans stalled a bit offensively over the next two games against Russia and Canada where they lost 2-1 in both match-ups without much offense respectively.  With only 1 point in 3 games for Team USA, many began to question when Miller would begin to step up and make his impact.

Miller is one of the Assistant Captains on this American team, and “technically” the only professional  (AHL experience) so he will be relied on heavily down the stretch to make a lasting impact.  In a must win scenario against Slovakia, Miller and Team USA began to turn things around with a 9-3 rout.  Miller’s 2 assists and steady all around game helped propel the Americans on to the Quarterfinals where they faced off against the Czech Republic.

Really early in the morning today (4am Eastern Time zone to be exact), Team USA skated to a 7-0 dominating victory over the Czechs.  Miller again started to pick it up on the score sheet with 1 goal and 2 assists.  The goal is featured in the link below (not so much of a highlight reel tally, but a goal none the less- Comes at the 4:40 mark of the video):

With Team USA, and J.T. Miller starting to hit their stride it makes for a very intriguing Semifinals match-up against Canada tomorrow (again at 4am).  The Canadians seem to be hitting on all cylinders with star (Edmonton Oilers forward) Ryan Nugent-Hopkins leading the charge.  If the Americans can continue to roll offensively against the high powered Canadians, this game could look a lot different then the 2-1 outcome on December 30th.

Follow me on twitter: @mattjanos

Written by: Matthew Janos on January 2, 2013.