World Juniors Day 1 Recap: The Knies–Cooley–Coronato connection shines against Team Germany

Mike Gould
Mike Gould
World Juniors Day 1 Recap: The Knies–Cooley–Coronato connection shines against Team Germany
Credit: Chris Tanouye/HHOF-IIHF Images

If it weren’t for the longest video review in hockey history (citation needed), Team USA’s big line of Matt Coronato, Logan Cooley, and Matthew Knies would’ve done even more damage against Team Germany on Tuesday evening.

By the time the buzzer sounded to end the third period, the trio had combined for 15 of the Americans’ 50 shots on net. Coronato set up Cooley late in the first period for what would eventually go down as the game-winning goal on Day 1 of the 2022 IIHF Men’s World Junior Championship.

Individually, Coronato tested Team Germany goaltender Nikita Quapp seven times but wound up settling for just one assist in the Americans’ tournament-opening game.

It appeared the Harvard University sniper scored his first goal of the rebooted tournament midway through the second tournament, crashing the crease and banging the rebound of a Knies shot past Quapp.

The on-ice officials initially ruled “no goal” on the basis of Knies touching the puck with a high stick, but they ended up overturning their initial call after a painfully long video review.

The Team Germany coaching staff then decided to challenge the play for goaltender interference … and were successful in doing so, putting things right back where they started. The whole review process lasted more than 10 minutes, much to the chagrin of fans and broadcasters alike.

Ultimately, Coronato’s disallowed goal ended up meaning very little in the grand scheme of things. Team USA coasted to a 5–1 victory to close out Tuesday’s slate of games, with New Jersey Devils prospect Luke Hughes being named the top American player of the contest.

Hughes, Cooley, Landon Slaggert, Red Savage, and Riley Duran scored for Team USA in the game, with Joshua Samanski breaking American goaltender Kaidan Mbereko’s shutout bid in the third period. Team USA outshot Team Germany 50–11 on Tuesday.

Cooley, Coronato, and Knies will all be key to Team USA finding success in this tournament. All three players also made the team back in December and are considered some of the finest prospects in their respective NHL pipelines.

The Calgary Flames selected Coronato in the first round (No. 13 overall) of the 2021 NHL Draft; Knies went to the Toronto Maple Leafs with the No. 57 pick that same year. Last month, the Arizona Coyotes selected Cooley with the No. 3 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.

Team USA is deep, fast, and fun to watch, and the Knies–Cooley–Coronato line exemplifies all those attributes. Cooley might be the fastest and most dynamic player on the squad, Coronato is a speedy sniper, and Knies is a formidable power forward.

Get ready to see those three players back at it when Team USA returns to action against Team Switzerland on Thursday.

Team Finland has a big line of its own

The Knies–Cooley–Coronato line did all the right things against Team Germany but only put the puck in the net once. Conversely, Team Finland’s big line of Roni Hirvonen, Aatu Räty, and Joakim Kemell had no issue scoring on Tuesday.

The three young Finns combined for 15 shots against Team Latvia goaltender Bruno Bruveris in Edmonton, combining for four goals in a commanding 6–1 win.

All three players got in on the action, with both Räty and Hirvonen scoring once and Kemell beating Bruveris twice. Hirvonen racked up three points; Räty and Kemell both recorded four.

Kemell, the Nashville Predators’ 2022 first-round pick, tried to set up Räty for a tap-in early in the first period but his pass ended up deflecting off a defender’s stick and into the back of the net.

After a monster draft-plus-one Liiga season with Jukurit, Räty appears to have cemented himself as Team Finland’s No. 1 center for this tournament. The New York Islanders prospect blossomed under Jukurit prospect (and longtime NHL center) Olli Jokinen last season and is off to a good start at the World Juniors.

Brad Lambert and Kasper Puutio also scored for Team Finland against Team Latvia. The Finns controlled the shots on goal by a 39–20 margin on Tuesday.

Czechs, Slovaks go back and forth

Team Czechia and Team Slovakia usually have some pretty good games at the World Juniors, and Tuesday’s tilt at Rogers Place offered no exception to that rule.

The Slovaks got off to a great start, going up 2–0 in the first six minutes of the first period, but allowed the next four goals to fall behind 4–2 early in the third.

But then, in dramatic fashion, Team Slovakia scored another set of back-to-back goals in the dying minutes of the third period. Undrafted forward Matej Kaslik tied the game with just 3:12 remaining in regulation time.

And yet … less than 90 seconds later, Team Czechia responded again to make it a 5–4 game. Gabriel Szturc’s go-ahead marker came with 1:50 remaining in the third period and sealed the deal for the Czechs.

Montreal Canadiens prospect and Team Czechia captain Jan Mysak had a strong outing, picking up a goal and an assist while also firing a dozen shots on goal. (Yes, you read that right: Mysak had 12 shots on Tuesday).

While the score ended up being close, Team Czechia outshot Team Slovakia 52–29 in the tournament opener. Slovak goaltender Simon Latkoczy outplayed his Detroit Red Wings-affiliated counterpart Jan Bednar in the game’s goaltending battle, making 47 saves to the Czech netminder’s 25.

Day 1 Results

Team Czechia 5, Team Slovakia 4

Team Latvia 1, Team Finland 6

Team USA 5, Team Germany 1

Day 2 Schedule

Team Sweden vs. Team Switzerland — 12:00 p.m. MT/2:00 p.m. ET

Team Latvia vs. Team Canada — 4:00 p.m. MT/6:00 p.m. ET

Team Germany vs. Team Austria — 8:00 p.m. MT/10:00 p.m. ET

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