Wild, Blues players recall past highlights watching World Juniors

In both the home and visiting locker rooms Tuesday morning at Xcel Energy Center, grown NHLers couldn't keep their eyes off the Canada-United States game of the World Under-20 Championships.

In St. Louis' room, Jaroslav Halak and Jay Bouwmeester were glued to the TV as Canada ended up edging the Americans 3-2 to win Group A heading into Thursday's relegation round of what is dubbed the world junior championships.

"Well, most of us have played in it," said Bouwmeester, who actually played for Canada in three world juniors. "It's such a great tournament."

Two years ago, the Wild's Jonas Brodin won gold with Sweden by beating Russia in Calgary, Alberta. Charlie Coyle represented the United States that same year and Mikael Granlund played for Finland.

"I still pay attention and keep up with it on Twitter and we watched the U.S.-Germany win in the lounge Sunday," Coyle said. "In Canada, it's unbelievable. Playing in Edmonton and Calgary two years ago, I couldn't believe how everyone's a fan."

The Wild's Nino Niederreiter credits the exposure he got playing with Switzerland in the 2010 world juniors for the reason he went fifth overall the following June to the Islanders.

Niederreiter scored six goals and 10 points in the tournament to finish seventh in scoring and make the all-tournament team.

"It changed my direction," Niederreiter said. "It definitely was a chance to showcase myself. That game against Russia, those goals, it was probably the best moment of my life.

"We got to play in Saskatoon. Every game was packed. It was so exciting. Even in Europe, they don't look at world juniors the way Canadians do. People love to see who's really good in the tournament and then follow them for years in the NHL.

"I just think it's a cool tournament for fans, and a really cool tournament for players."

The Wild has two players partaking in this world juniors.

Matt Dumba, a defenseman for Canada and a first-round pick in 2012, had a strong game against the United States on Tuesday after fighting off flu-like symptoms all tournament. In four games, he has one assist, is plus-1 and has six penalty minutes.

Center Christoph Bertschy, a Wild sixth-round pick in 2012, made Switzerland's team but is missing the tournament because of an injury.

Other Wild players who have participated in the world juniors include Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, Ryan Suter, Josh Harding, Dany Heatley, Keith Ballard, Matt Cooke, Marco Scandella, Jason Zucker, Erik Haula and Johan Gustafsson.

After the Winter Classic live on NBC on Wednesday, the U.S. will unveil its 25-man roster for the Winter Olympics.

"I'm just as interested as anybody," said Parise, who is a shoo-in. "It was really fun last time how they had all the kids wearing our jerseys. That was really cool. I don't know what they're doing this time, but I really want to see who's on our team. There are a handful of spots where there will be surprises, so everyone's anxious."

• Defenseman Jon Blum, called up Monday from Iowa, didn't make his Wild debut because banged-up defenseman Jared Spurgeon played Tuesday against St. Louis.