World Juniors roundup: Quarterfinal matchups set as Czechia, USA win groups
Canada finishes preliminary round with big win over Sweden
Canada closed out the preliminary round with a convincing 5-1 win over Sweden, clinching second spot in Group A.
The Canadians will play Slovakia in the quarterfinal on Monday. Finland Sweden will play their rivals from Finland in what is always a good matchup, regardless of tournament.
The start was as perfect as you can ask for if you’re a Canadian fan. Just 57 seconds into the game, Connor Bedard found Joshua Roy in front of the net and Roy fired a shot past a stunned Carl Lindbom to make it 1-0.
At 2:08, Canada doubled it up on the man advantage after Bedard set up Shane Wright, who found his former Don Mills Flyers teammate Brennan Othmann all alone.
Tyson Hinds extended the lead to three goals at 11:45. He capitalized after Bedard’s pass to Logan Stankoven eventually made it to the Canadian defenseman, who whipped it past Lindbom to make it 3-0.
The Swedes got a bit of relief at 16:21. After Zack Ostapchuk was ejected for kneeing, defenseman Ludvig Jansson made it 3-1 with a point shot that goaltender Thomas Milic couldn’t see.
Nobody found a way to score in the second, even after both squads had various opportunities. But just 35 seconds into the third, Othmann’s second of the night put the game to rest, taking Dylan Guenther’s feed undetected around the net and quickly knocked it in for the 4-1 goal.
Minutes later, Canada found itself in a difficult spot. After being on the receiving end of an awkward hit, Colton Dach left the game while screaming in pain, holding his left arm. He didn’t return to the game.
Fortunately for Canada, they’d score another to ease the pain. With Kevin Korchinski’s first of the tournament, Bedard tied the Canadian all-time points record with 18 in a single tournament, which also tied Trevor Zegras and Brayden Schenn for the most in the 21st century. The point was also his 31st in tying him with Eric Lindros for the most by a Canadian ever.
USA wins Group B after thumping Finland
Just a few days after a shocking loss to Slovakia, the United States bounced back to win Group B after beating Finland 6-2 on Saturday.
The win means USA will face Germany in a quarterfinal matchup on Monday, while Finland will fight Sweden that same day.
The game started close, with Chaz Lucius scoring at 15:22 and Joakim Kemell answering a minute later on the power play. But some mistakes in the Finnish zone sunk the defending silver medalists, even after controlling the shot count 14-8.
It started when Luke Hughes made a behind-the-back pass to Rutger McGroarty on the power play at 24:57. Then, five minutes later, Jimmy Snuggerud sent the puck between the legs of Aku Koskenvuo off of a spin-o-rama to make it 3-1. Luke Hughes’ blast at 34:48 hit Koskenvuo and trickled in, giving USA the insurmountable three-goal advantage with just over five minutes to go.
Lenni Hameenaho gave his team some life on the next shift, beating Trey Augustine in close. But that was the last of the smiles for the Finns, who didn’t hit the scoresheet again. At 43:55, USA regained its three-goal advantage. This time, Logan Cooley scored on the rebound after Jimmy Snuggerud’s shot was stopped, giving USA the 5-2 lead. Lane Hutson finished things off with a late goal, making it a 6-2 game at the final buzzer.
Czechia cruises to win over Germany
Czechia managed to win Group A with a convincing 8-1 victory over Germany in their final round-robin game.
The Czechs play the fourth-seeded Switzerland in the quarterfinal, while Germany will play the winner of Group B, which will be either the United States or Finland.
The odds were against Germany from the get-go, and a poor first period didn’t help. At 4:58, David Spacek’s strong tournament continued after Stanislav Svozil found him alone on the power play to make it 1-0. At 17:07, Gabriel Szturc made it a two-goal game after Jakub Brabenec forced a turnover. He got the puck to Gabriel Szturc, who made no mistake in close to beat Nikita Quapp for the 2-0 goal.
Quapp was Germany’s best player, making 21 stops in the first half of the game. But the German coaching staff pulled him with 11 minutes left in the second, presumably to keep him fresh for the quarterfinal. Unfortunately for new goalie Simon Wolf, he entered the game and immediately allowed a goal on his first shot against. Brabenec made a nice pass from behind the net to Jaroslav Chmelar, who fired a shot from in close for the 3-0 goal.
The Germans weren’t prepared to go down quietly, though. At 32:35, Veit Oswald got his own rebound off of a shot off the boards and jammed in past Tomas Suchanek, who otherwise had a quiet period for the Czechs.
Germany didn’t have much to answer back with after that, though. Martin Rysavy scored five minutes later to restore Czechia’s three-goal advantage, and Petr Hauser made it a four-goal difference less than a minute after that. Goals for Chmelar and Jakub Kos in the third made it a 7-1 game, with Jiri Tichacek scoring late to make it 8-1.
Switzerland beats Slovakia after wild shootout
It took extra time, but Switzerland managed to erase a 3-1 deficit to win 4-3 over Slovakia in a wild shootout to close out Group B play.
After finishing third in the group, Slovakia will play Canada in the quarterfinal, while Switzerland will meet with the top team in Group A, Czechia.
The Slovaks had a few dangerous chances early in the game, and at 4:11, they broke the deadlock. After New York Rangers prospect Adam Sykora was stopped initially, he had a few poke-check opportunities before he eventually pushed it past Kevin Pasche to give his team the lead.
Switzerland needed an early goal in the second to change the momentum, and they got it. At 21:07, Liekit Reichle’s wrist shot from the hashmarks proved to be too much for Slovakian goaltender Adam Gajan to handle and made it 1-1.
The game remained that way until 37:20. Libor Nemec made a great move around a Swiss defender to set up Servac Petrovsky in close, with the Minnesota Wild forward making no mistake. On the very next shift, Petrovsky struck again, with Nemec and Filip Mesar both grabbing their second assists of the day.
Once again, the Swiss needed to generate something on the scoresheet. At 42:20, Mischa Ramel scored just seconds after his goaltender Pasche made a big glove stop, going the other way and beating Gajan for the 3-2 goal.
Switzerland kept the pressure up, and they capitalized at 48:40 on the power play. This time, Louis Robin and Attilio Biasca did the work to get the puck into a scoring lane, and Lorenzo Canonica slammed home the pass to make it 3-3.
The game required a shootout, spicing up the Group B standings even further. It took 10 rounds for someone to secure the victory, with Rodwin Dioncio scoring after poking the puck between Adam Gajan’s legs for the 4-3 goal.
Three Stars
- Jimmy Snuggerud, F (USA, St. Louis): USA needed an all-out attack against the Finns, and Snuggerud contributed four points to the cause.
- Connor Bedard, F (Canada, 2023): We can’t make him No. 1 every night – but with four points, he was pretty darn good once again. And he tied some records, too.
- Jakub Brabenec, F (Czechia, Vegas): Gabriel Szturc, Martin Rysavy and Jaroslav Chmelar all had three-point efforts, but Brabenec was the critical setup man and was dynamite in the faceoff dot, too.
Quarterfinal Schedule (Monday, Jan. 2)
Finland vs Sweden – 11:00 AM ET
Czechia vs Switzerland – 1:30 PM ET
USA vs Germany – 4:00 PM ET
Canada vs Slovakia – 6:30 PM ET