World Juniors roundup: Canada, USA, Sweden and Czechia advance to semifinal
Connor Bedard breaks records, scores game-winner as Canada beats Slovakia
Connor Bedard scored a goal to remember for Canada, helping them advance to the semifinal of the World Junior Championship following a wild 4-3 overtime game against Slovakia.
Canada will meet with the United States at 6:30 PM ET in the semifinal on Wednesday.
The story of the game was the goaltending. Slovakia’s Adam Gajan, who started the tournament as the third goalie, made 53 saves in the loss, while Thomas Milic stopped 24 sent his way. Both goalies faced a high variety of high-quality chances, which kept the game close.
The Slovaks had a 5-0 shot advantage to start the first period, but Canada still managed to score first. At 6:07, Connor Bedard scored on a breakaway from a Logan Stankoven feed, giving Canada the 1-0 advantage. The goal made Bedard Canada’s all-time goals (15) and points (32) leader with two more games to go.
Neither team scored again in the first, but the second period was much more interesting. At 25:02, Dylan Guenther scored on the power play after taking Brennan Othmann’s feed on the power play, making no mistake while all alone.
The Slovaks scored on the power play a minute later. Simon Nemec, one of the top defensive prospects, fired a shot at net, only to have Libor Nemec deflect the puck off his leg for the 2-1 goal.
The two teams traded goals to close out the period. First, Canada’s Zack Ostapchuk scored on a simple wrister at 29:00. Then, at 33:18, Robert Baco took advantage of two Canadians laying down on the ice and beat Thomas Milic blocker side, making it a 3-2 game before the end of the middle stanza.
The action was hectic in the third period, with both teams getting some fantastic opportunities. It all eventually came to a head when Libor Nemec scored his second of the game, waiting until Filip Mesar drew two Canadian defenders away for the 3-3 goal.
After multiple hit crossbars and posts in the dying minutes, the game required overtime to decide the victor. It was intense, with both goaltenders playing their hearts out in what will be considered an instant classic. But if any Canadian was going to score, it was going to be Bedard, and that’s exactly what he did. After deking past two defenders, Bedard made one final move to the backhand to lift it over Gajan to win the game.
USA cruises to semifinal with big win over Germany
The United States of America has cruised easily to the World Junior Championship semifinal in Halifax after a big 11-1 victory over Germany on Monday.
USA’s victory is their biggest quarterfinal win in team history. They’ll await confirmation of their opponent following the end of Canada and Slovakia’s quarterfinal game later today. USA will have a shot at a medal for the sixth time in the past eight tournaments, last winning gold in 2021 in Edmonton.
The Americans were much stronger from the get-go, needing only 3:51 to score the first goal. At 3:51, Logan Cooley danced around a pair of defenders and tucked it between the legs of Nikita Quapp for the 1-0 goal.
That seemed to spark the American attack, and at 8:00 on the power play, they scored again. This time, Ryan Ufko – who set up Cooley for the first goal – found Jimmy Snuggerud in free space. Snuggerud’s shot bounced off a German defenseman in front and past Quapp for the 2-0 goal.
Just 39 seconds later, Ufko again got himself on the scoresheet, setting up a wide-open Red Savage for the 3-0 goal. Charlie Stramel scored shortly after on a goal that was ultimately taken back for being offside, but USA was in complete control.
After that third goal, though, the game felt a bit closer. The Germans were keeping pace, and the United States couldn’t generate much for a 15-minute span. That all At 29:05, Jackson Blake’s first goal of the tournament made it 4-0, starting a floodgate to close the period.
Cooley and Cutter Gauthier scored 18 seconds apart at the 31-minute mark to make it 6-0 before Savage’s second of the night made it 7-0 at 35:25. Gauthier’s second of the night concluded the period, with USA showing its dominance with an eight-goal advantage.
USA wanted to keep the pressure on as they focused ahead to the semifinal and didn’t stop putting on the pressure. Kenny Connors scored early to make it 9-0 after strongarming himself in front of the net for the goal. Two minutes later, Cooley completed the hat-trick after crashing the net to knock in Gauthier’s goal. At 48:31, Dylan Duke added one to make it 11-0, giving Ufko his fifth assist of the contest.
Late-game Swedish attack results in quarterfinal win over Finland
After struggling for most of the game to hold any sustained pressure, Sweden managed to score two goals late to beat Finland 3-2 in the first quarterfinal game on Monday.
Sweden will await their opponent for Wednesday’s semifinal, guaranteeing a chance at a medal after winning bronze in August.
The Finns had full control of the start of the game, taking a 5-0 shot advantage early on. At 3:10, Oliver Kapanen scored after taking Joakim Kemell’s feed in front, with Kapanen making no mistake on a shot over Carl Lindbom.
With just over three minutes to go in the period, the Swedes tied it up on just their second shot of the game. This time, Filip Bystedt forced a turnover and got it to Ludvig Jansson, who fired it towards the Finnish net. Leo Carlsson, a top 2023 draft prospect, was there to direct it past Jani Lampinen, giving Sweden some much-needed reprieve after a tough start to the game.
The second period was much more competitive, but the goaltenders took center stage. Lampinen, who didn’t start the game against USA, stopped all nine shots sent his way, while Lindbom was excellent with nine saves.
But after a scoreless second, the Finns started strong with a goal in the third. This time, Niko Huuhtanen beat Lindbom with a perfectly placed wrister under the glove after Verner Miettinen set him up.
The Swedes couldn’t seem to make anything work for most of the third period. That all changed at 56:33 when Carlsson got his second of the day, once again banging the puck in close to tie it up.
A late-game penalty to Fabian Lysell – one that would go until the final buzzer – looked to have sunk Sweden’s chances. Instead, Victor Stjernborg scored with 1:05 left in regulation, forcing a shorthanded breakaway to make it 3-2 – shocking the fans in Halifax with the winning goal.
Czechia crushes Switzerland to advance
The Czechs will play for a medal for the second time in less than a year after beating Switzerland 9-1 on Monday.
It was a convincing win for the Czechs, who will await their opponent following the remainder of the quarterfinal matchups. Switzerland has only made it out of the quarterfinal twice since 2010, finishing fourth on both occasions.
Despite the win, the Czechs started things off on the wrong foot. Just 22 seconds in, Louis Robin created a breakaway opportunity and fired it past Tomas Suchanek for the surprising 1-0 lead.
That was short-lived, as Buffalo Sabres prospect Jiri Kulich answered back at 2:41 to make it 1-1. At 7:09, Marcel Marcel’s first goal of the tournament – a short-handed effort – made it 2-1 after outmuscling two defenders for the go-ahead goal. Petr Hauser then made it a three-goal first-period effort for Switzerland, with Marcel crashing the net before Hauser finished the play.
An early period goal for the Swiss in the second could have done a ton to switch the momentum. Instead, Kulich got the puck to defenseman David Jiricek, who continued his hot play with the 4-1 goal. Kulich then scored at 25:42 or his second before Gabriel Szturc made it 6-1 at 33:10. Kulich’s hot game continued, setting up top 2023 draft prospect Eduard Sale for the 7-1 goal.
It started to seem like the Czechs were scoring on nearly every shot – and after scoring their ninth goal after 21 shots, the math almost worked out that way. At 34:18, Marcel Marcel grabbed his second of the game after tipping in Ales Cech’s point shot, only for Szturc to add his own second of the contest.
Latvia beats Austria in opening world junior relegation battle
Latvia has won its first game of the 2023 World Junior Championship, beating Austria 5-2 in the relegation round’s opening fight in Halifax.
The Latvians can clinch a spot in the 2024 tournament with a win on Wednesday in the second game. A third battle, if needed, will take place before the bronze medal game on Thursday.
Austria took the lead twice in the first period – the only time they’ve done that. At 5:20, Luca Auer scored on a quick wrister that went under the bar and in. Ian Scherzer, the team’s first goal scorer against Germany last week, worked to get past a Latvian defender to help set the goal up.
Latvia would answer back on the power play. At 17:53, Dans Locmelis’ shot cleanly beat Thomas Pfarrmaier, tying it up and capitalizing after the Latvians had control of the shot count. The tie score didn’t last for long, though, as Montreal Canadiens prospect Vinzenz Rohrer took Scherzer’s feed and beat Berzins down under his pad, making it 2-1 Austria heading into the first break.
The Latvians once again took control in the second period, shot-wise, and it eventually led to the 2-2 goal. Anri Ravinskis took Bogdans Hodass’ pass and skated around the Austrian net, fending off a couple physical challenges. He tried to tuck it past Pfarrmaier, but was stopped. Emils Veckaktins eventually swooped in and scored on the rebound to make it 2-2 with three minutes to go in the second.
Austria had a disastrous start to the second, getting outshot 13-0 in the first half of the frame. At 48:50, Veckaktins took advantage of Austria’s inability to get out of their zone and scored on a Rihards Simanovics rebound, handing the lead to Latvia for the first time. A goal by Sandis Vilmanis at 51:22 put any chances of an Austrian comeback to bed, making it 4-2 Latvia.
It took about 17 minutes for Austria to generate its first shot, and by that point, the game was all but over. They didn’t register another shot with the empty net, and Hodass shot the puck into an empty cage with 1:06 left to make it 5-2.
Latvia outshot Austria 46-13 in the game, and 22-1 in the third period.
Three Stars
- Ryan Ufko, D (USA, Nashville): So much attention has been placed on Lane Hutson and Luke Hughes, but Ufko’s five-point effort was one of the best offensive outputs by a defenseman this year.
- AdaAdam Gajan, G (Slovakia, 2023): Gajan’s incredible tournament continues, keeping his outmatched Slovak team in it all night long with 53 saves.
- Connor Bedard, F (Canada, 2023): Two goals and an assist in a historic night for the 2023 draft phenom.
Semifinal schedule (Jan. 4)
Austria vs. Latvia – 10:00 AM ET (relegation)
Sweden vs. Czechia – 2:30 PM ET
Canada vs. USA – 6:30 PM ET