Buffalo talent shines at IIHF World Championships

The 2024 IIHF World Championships concluded yesterday as the Czech team won the gold medal against the Swiss team. For anyone unfamiliar with the World Championships, it’s basically the Olympics, but the World Championships are strictly for hockey.

Regarding the Buffalo Sabres, they were well represented in the tournament as six players represented the blue and gold. The Canadian team consisted of forward Dylan Cozens, as well as defenders Owen Power and Bowen Byram. JJ Peterka was part of the German team while Rasmus Dahlin and Victor Olofsson were part of the Swedish team.

In this article, we’ll take a look at how each member of the Sabers performed during the tournament.

JJ Peterka is the first player we will talk about. In eight matches played, the German striker has scored five goals and recorded four assists. Peterka was +2 in the tournament and led the Germans in notable offensive categories, including points (9). Even though JJ and his country left the tournament empty-handed, he performed well and looked like the player Sabers fans saw this year.

When it comes to playing in blue and gold, Peterka is coming off an impressive sophomore campaign. He scored 28 goals while registering 22 assists in the 82 matches played. After scoring 12 goals in his freshman year and finishing with 32 points in 77 games played, JJ took a leap forward this season.

His 50 points this year were fourth-best on Buffalo. On almost every team in the tournament, Team Germany has NHL players and players playing in international leagues. These were mostly non-NHL players, as Peterka was one of five German players playing in the NHL.

It was good to see JJ perform well in the tournament, and I can’t wait to see what he does in his NHL career.