U-17 World Hockey Challenge: Canada Red, Czechia take victories
After USA clinched a spot in the final on Tuesday, Canada Red, Finland and Sweden kept things interesting with just two days left in round-robin play to go.
Canada Red remains in championship contention after beating Finland
Canada Red have kept their hopes of making the gold medal game alive after beating Finland 8-5 on Wednesday.
The Finns needed a victory to clinch a championship game berth against the United States. Instead, they’ll have to beat Canada White on Friday to advance. Red will play Sweden, and if Finland loses to White, the winner of that game will advance to the final. Otherwise, they’ll meet again in the bronze medal game.
Red has moved into third place overall, overtaking Canada Black. Canada Red still has a shot at securing a spot in the gold medal game with a win over Sweden on Friday. Finland still has the one-point advantage over Canada Red with just one meeting with Canada White left on the docket.
Canada found itself off to a quick two-goal lead in the first. Jett Luchanko took a feed from Berkly Catton and roofed it on the backhand, making it 1-0. A few minutes later, Carson Wetsch converted on a poor Finnish clearing attempt, extending the lead to two goals.
A power-play goal at 14:38 gave Finland some life. Konsta Helenius knocked in a shot from Veeti Vasianen, cutting Canada’s advantage in half. But a dominant three-goal period from Tij Iginla, Ben Danford and Sacha Boisvert shook things up, with Canada taking a commanding 5-1 lead.
The scoring wasn’t done yet, however. After a miserable second period, Joonas Paqvalin converted on a play after Konsta Helenius deked past two Canadians to create a scoring chance. But less than 30 seconds later, Porter Martone when the other way and restored Canada’s four-goal lead. Ethan Procyszyn scored at 14:33 to make it 7-2 for Canada, and Niklas Nykyri finished the period off with Finland’s third of the game to make it 7-3.
At that point, the game looked well past over. The Finns had other plans, though. At 2:46, Tuomas Suoniemi took Natan Teshome’s feed near the net and beat Gabriel D’Aigle for the 7-4 goal. A minute later, Matvey Butkowskiy used a screen in front and blasted it home to make it 7-5. The Finns had multiple good scoring chances late, but Berkly Catton’s empty-netter with 13 seconds left secured Canada’s victory.
Sweden forces comeback to beat Czechia
Sweden erased a 4-2 deficit midway through the third period to complete the comeback, beating Czechia 5-4 to stay in the medal hunt.
Sweden will play Canada Red in their final round-robin game on Friday. Both teams have eight points, with Finland failing to clinch a championship berth after a loss to Red. If Finland loses to Canada White, the winner of Canada Red and Sweden will move on to play USA in the final on Saturday.
Just like Czechia’s game against Canada White on Tuesday, it was a back-and-forth affair. Wiktor Jerneheim scored on a quick snapper at 2:54 to give Sweden an early lead, but Adam Titlbach repsonded three minutes later to make it a 1-1 game.
At 10:24, the Swedes took a 2-1 lead that would continue into the first break. Emil Stadin finished off a passing play between himself, Jack Bodin and Vincent Sandberg, beating Czechian netminder Jakub Milota for the go-ahead goal.
But Czechia took over from there. Goals from Jan Skok and a Titlbach a minute apart early in the second gave Czechia its first lead of the game. Ondrej Kos scored at 10:20 to make it a two-goal advantage, a lead that lasted until Viktor Olofsson made it a one-goal game again with a Swedish power-play goal at 15:03.
A power-play goal 6:27 into the third meant the game was tied again. Alfons Freij took the feed from Karl Sterner near the blueline, skated in and beat Milota for the 4-4 goal to help set up a crazy end to the game.
The Czechs needed a perfect six points in the final two games to make the medal round, including a regulation win tonight. Late in the game, they pulled Milota in hopes of getting a late empty-net goal, but Wille Magnettoft scored for Sweden to make it 5-4, completing the comeback and putting them in a prime spot to play for a medal.
Three Stars
- Tij Iginla, F (Canada Red): Iginla had quite the quiet tournament until he unleashed a three-point effort on Wednesday.
- Konsta Helenius. F (Finland): Helenius had a goal and an assist, and a few late scoring chances for the Finns, but it wasn’t enough to complete the comeback.
- Adam Titlbach, F (Czechia): He scored twice for Czechia, but there’s only so much he can do when the team can’t keep pucks out of the net.