(WGR 550) – For Dylan Cozens and Owen Power, it was a very good World Championship playing for Canada.

Cozens was selected to the Media All-Star team after leading the tournament in goal scoring for the second time in three years. In 2022, Cozens led the tournament with seven goals and this season, he had nine goals in 10 games. Cozens had a streak where he scored in six consecutive games.

What should give him more confidence is that he played in all situations. Cozens and Power were both on the No. 1 power play and Cozens netted four goals. He added two shorthanded goals which meant he only had three 5-on-5. Cozens will face better faceoff men in the NHL, but he did do well in this tournament winning 51.9% of his faceoffs.

After the 2022 tournament, Cozens had a career season with the Sabres scoring 31 goals and 37 assists for 68 points.

Power was very impressive and it earned him a spot on Canada’s top pair on defense with Colton Parayko of the St. Louis Blues. They led the team in ice-time and Power thrived in both ends of the ice. He was confident in defending, he joined the rush with conviction and looked even better than he did when he showed so much improvement after Jan. 1. I’m not predicting it, but this tournament could put Power in the running for the Olympics.

In 10 games, Power had a goal and five assists for six points.

Bo Byram had a very solid tournament as well and showed what he could do when he plays on a team with some defensive structure. In nine games Byram had a goal and four assists for five points and was plus-4.

Rasmus Dahlin and Victor Olofsson were the only Sabres to win medals and both took home the Bronze with Sweden. Dahlin is a much better overall defenseman than Erik Karlsson, but Victor Hedman had always wanted to play with Karlsson, so Dahlin was on the second pair with Jonas Brodin of the Minnesota Wild. Dahlin could’ve learned so much playing with Hedman, but he had to settle for being on the power play with him.

Dahlin had two goals and seven assists for nine points in 10 games. That’s actually one more point than Hedman.

JJ Peterka had his second straight productive World Championship with Germany. The Sabres winger had five goals and four assists for nine points in eight games.