World Juniors Day 6 Recap: Matt Coronato comes through for Team USA

Mike Gould
Mike Gould
World Juniors Day 6 Recap: Matt Coronato comes through for Team USA
Credit: Tim Austen/HHOF-IIHF Images

Calgary Flames fans only have one prospect to watch at the 2022 IIHF Men’s World Junior Championship, but he came through in a big way for Team USA on Sunday.

Matt Coronato, the Flames’ 2021 first-round pick, scored a pair of goals (including the game-winner) for Team USA in its 3–2 win over Team Sweden on Day 6.

Playing on a very dangerous line with Logan Cooley (Arizona Coyotes) and Matt Knies (Toronto Maple Leafs), Coronato kicked things off with a decidedly unglamorous rebound goal to give the Americans a 2–0 lead in the second period.

As a freshman at Harvard University in 2021–22, Coronato developed a knack for scoring in all kinds of different ways en route to capturing the team crowns for goals (18) and points (36).

There’s only one word that sufficiently describes Coronato’s second goal against the Swedes on Sunday:

Snipe.

No surprise: Coronato was named Team USA’s player of the game after his two-goal performance.

The 19-year-old winger is currently tied for the tournament lead in shots on goal with Connor Bedard (Canada) and Roni Hirvonen (Finland). All three players have fired 19, although Coronato has played one more game.

Only Mason McTavish (Canada) has more goals than Coronato’s four in four games. McTavish has six in three games, with four of those tallies coming at the expense of Team Slovakia on Day 3.

Bolstered by the excellent play of the Knies–Cooley–Coronato line, Team USA won all four of its round-robin games and has clinched the top spot in Group B.

Team Latvia makes history

For the first time ever, Team Latvia will participate in the quarterfinals at the World Juniors.

The Latvians defeated Team Czechia 5–2 on Sunday — their first round-robin victory at any World Junior tournament in history — to clinch their spot in the elimination round.

Latvian defenseman and captain Ralfs Bergmanis led the way with a natural hat trick, scoring the final three goals of the contest for either team.

Bergmanis, 20, spent the 2021–22 season with the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers and is headed to the University of Vermont next year.

With Team Latvia headed to the quarters, Teams Slovakia and Czechia are done. The Slovaks suffered a crushing 9–3 defeat at the hands of Team Finland on Sunday.

Now, the real test begins. Can the Latvians pull off the unthinkable and get past Canada and Finland to go all the way to the final?

This year, they’ll have a chance.

Day 6 Results

Team Finland 9, Team Slovakia 3

Team Czechia 2, Team Latvia 5

Team USA 3, Team Sweden 2

Day 7 Schedule

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

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

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

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