Defending champion Canada, the United States won the opening matches in the world of hockey
HELSINKI – Pierre-Luc Dubois scored twice and led the championship-defending Canada to a 5-3 victory over Germany in their opening match at the World Hockey Championships on Friday.
Cole Sillinger and Dubois scored from the starting point in the first set of the A-block in Helsinki.
Germany narrowed the deficit to one, then Dubois and Kent Johnson scored power goals and Noah Gregor added another to stretch the 5-1 lead after the midfield.
Moritz Seider scored from Germany.
After the opening period, the United States jumped to the dominant 3-0 lead against Latvia and cruised to a 4-1 victory in the Group B opening match in Tampere.
Captain Seth Jones scored from the penalty spot, putting the ball in near the top left corner. Riley Barber, Thomas Bordeleau and Sam Lafferty almost scored. Goalkeeper Strauss Mann blocked 24 shots.
In the second B-block game, Toni Rajala scored a goal and two assists when Finland, who finished second last year, defeated Norway 5-0.
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In addition, Slovakia won France 4-2 in Group A.
This is the first world championship without Russian representation since 1962, when the Soviet Union did not play in Colorado due to the Cold War tensions over the construction of the Berlin Wall.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted Finland, which is hosting the tournament, to seek the exclusion of Russia and its ally Belarus. The International Hockey Federation replaced them in France and Austria and deprived Russia of the right to host the 2023 World Cup.
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