Once Upon A Time At The World Junior Championship: Joel Armia

The days Joel Armia patrols the ice on the Montreal Canadiens' fourth line, but back in 2013 at the World Junior Championship, he was the top-scoring forward for an underperforming Finnish side. That year, he put up 12 points in six games, second only to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins who finished his tournament with 15.

With a roster boasting plenty of future NHLers like Rasmus Ristolainen, Joonas Korpisalo, Aleksander Barkov, Markus Granlund, Teuvo Teravainen, former Canadiens player Artturi Lehkonen and Armia himself, the Finns didn't qualify for the finals round. They finished fourth in Group A behind Sweden, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland.

In the relegation round, they faced weaker sides: Germany and Slovakia. In the first game, they beat the Germans 8-0 and Armia picked up three points. In their second game, against the Slovaks, he gathered a hat trick and an assist, bringing his total output to seven points in the regulation round.

Since most of his points came from the relegation round, he missed out on the tournament all-star team, which featured four Americans: goaltender John Gibson, defensemen Jacob Trouba and Jake McCabe, as well as the late great Johnny Gaudreau. Swede Filip Forsberg and the aforementioned Nugent-Hopkins completed the side.

While the Finns finished in seventh place, the following year they would land back on their feet with the gold medal, grabbing the third title in their history against long-term rivals Sweden on their ground.

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