Jacob Fowler plays like a guy who deserves to be America’s #1 goalie at the WJC

At the last draft, the Canadiens had a clear objective: not to draft Matvei Michkov to replenish their bank of prospects in front of the net. The club selected three goalies: Jacob Fowler, Quentin Miller and Yevgeni Volokhin.

Speaking of Miller, he had another good night’s work last night in a Remparts win.

That said, when you look at the profiles of the three guys, you realize that Fowler is the big hope among the three. Without taking anything away from the other two, Fowler has a better track record and was seen as one of the best goaltenders in the auction.

He fell a bit behind guys like Adam Gajan, Trey Augustine and Michael Hrabal, but before the draft, he was in their league.

And this season, Fowler is playing like a goalie on a mission. The goaltender, who played every game for his Boston College team, has a 9-2-1 record, a 2.14 goals-against average and a 0.926 save percentage.

Understandably, he’s a huge part of his team’s success, having been named his conference’s NCAA Goalie of the Month in October. He may be an NCAA rookie, but he still plays like a veteran of the circuit.

Obviously, a season like this earns him points in the CH’s prospect hierarchy and among the Hobey Baker Trophy contenders… but it also earns him points for the World Junior Championship, which is just around the corner.

Yesterday, the guys at The Athletic got down to the nitty-gritty of imagining what the squads of the big four (Canada, USA, Sweden and Finland) will look like, and what we noticed is that not only does Fowler seem to have a guaranteed spot, Corey Pronman even sees him as the team’s #1 goaltender.

Scott Wheeler, meanwhile, still sees Trey Augustine (the favorite from the start) as the starter, but he sees Fowler as his backup.

Our 2024 World Juniors preview at @TheAthletic.@coreypronman and I pick rosters and make cuts for , , , and , plus prospects of notes for the other teams and more: https://t.co/Kn3h9JlgWU pic.twitter.com/Q9bTaZysky

– Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) November 21, 2023

In any case, what seems certain is that Fowler will be there. That said, even though Augustine has the same record as him this season (9-2-1), his goals-against average (2.99) and save percentage (0.913) are far less solid than Fowler’s.

These are still excellent numbers for Augustine, of course… but Fowler is in a class of his own.

This summer, I wrote that Fowler could aspire to be part of the American squad at the WJC if he had a strong start to the NCAA season. That said, he didn’t just have a great start to the season, he had a phenomenal one.

And with Augustine pulling his weight, the goalie drafted in the third round by the CH this summer has a serious chance of being #1 in front of the U.S. net.

We’ll see if Fowler can build on his tremendous start to the campaign to grab the U.S. starting goalie’s chair at the next WJC, but clearly, it’s a more likely scenario than ever. And when you consider that his presence at the tournament wasn’t even assured this summer, it just goes to show how much Fowler has grown since the start of the season.

In brief

– Practices have been the focus of attention for the CH since the start of the week.

– Speaking of Team USA at the WJC, Rutger McGroarty may not be available due to injury.

– Nothing less.

Quinn Hughes is in elite company. pic.twitter.com/1vG6eHL6OS

– NHL (@NHL) November 22, 2023

– Too bad.

– Alperen Sengun is impressing this season.