World Junior Roundup: Finland, Sweden, Canada, Czech Republic advance to semifinals
Finnish PP the difference in victory over Germany
A total of six powerplay goals were scored between Finland and Germany, with the Finns holding on for a 5-2 victory.
The Finns got excited with the team’s first goal at 3:37. After some great passing between Joel Maatta, Roby Jarventie and Kasper Simontaival, Simontaival finished by beating a vulnerable Florian Bugl, who had no chance in the passing game.
At 11:06, Kasper Puttio was stopped by Bugl’s stick, but Simontaival was there to make a quick backhand pass to Roni Hirvonen on the doorstep, who made no mistake.
Barely two minutes later, the Germans got a powerplay goal of their own. Maciej Rutkowski’s shot was blocked, but Bennet Rossmy was there to get a good second chance and beat Leevi Merilainen for the 2-1 goal.
That deficit didn’t last long, though, as Jarventie’s wrister on the upper hand at 14:48 beat Bugl’s high blocker for the 3-1 goal.
The second period was a little calmer, with Rossmy’s second of the game – a spin in front of the Finnish net on the power play – the only goal to make it 3-2. Germany were hoping for an early third period goal to tie it up, but Jarventie had other plans. He scored on a simple wrister, again on the power play, at 46:22 to make it 4-2, and Maatta finished the scoring on the next power-play opportunity to secure the 5-2 victory.
Sweden Edges Latvia to End Cinderella Run
At one point it looked like Latvia could pull off a miracle run and beat Sweden to advance to the semi-finals.
Instead, a third-period goal from defenseman Emil Andrae allowed Sweden to advance to the semifinals after a 2-1 victory.
The lone first period goal came from Isak Rosen on the power play after Fabian Lysell raced around the net, got the puck under goaltender Bruno Bruveris and on the stick of Rosen. Rosen wasted no time firing into the open cage to give Sweden a 1-0 lead.
The Latvians struggled to create offense in the second, but after a good barrage, Gustavs Ozolins got his team on the board with a huge goal.
The match remained even and Latvia even killed off a five-minute penalty early in the third, but Andrae put the dagger in the heart of Latvia’s dreams. At 49:49, Andrae’s shot went through a crowd in front of Bruveris, who had no chance to stop the shot, giving Sweden the goal they needed to seal the deal.
Canada beats Switzerland to advance
Team Canada is now the lone group with a perfect record after defeating Switzerland 6-3 in the quarter-finals.
Canada will now face the Czech Republic for a shot at gold.
It only took Canada one shot to open the scoring for the Canadians. Goalkeeper Noah Patenaude initially stopped Logan Stankoven, but the Swiss goalkeeper was unable to cover it completely. Tyson Foerster was in the right spot to poke the puck to make it 1-0.
But just over a minute later, Brian Zanetti’s shot was tipped in by Simon Knak just in front of Dylan Garand for the equalizing goal.
The game remained tied for another 10 minutes until Canada got some luck at 12:31. Ronan Seeley’s shot hit a Swiss defender in front and Thompson was able to whip a shot behind Patenaude for the 2-1 goal. Logan Stankoven scored two minutes after that on a breakaway and Nathan Gaucher added another for good measure to end Patenaude’s night early in favor of Kevin Pasche.
The Swiss seemed to find some offense late in the first and at 19:51, Attilio Biasca Garand beat the high blocker for the 4-2 goal.
The scoring calmed down a bit in the second, with both teams only adding one. Will Cuylle scored at 24:20 to make it 5-2, but Biasca’s second of the night restored Switzerland’s two-goal deficit. It didn’t do much to mount a late-game comeback, however, as an empty-netter for Stankoven was the only goal in the third, giving Canada the 6-3 victory.
USA Upset by Czechia Attack
After a dominant round-robin effort that saw them outscore their opponents 23-3, the U.S. has been eliminated from the Junior World Championships following a 4-2 loss to the Czech Republic to close out Wednesday’s action.
The Czech Republic faces Canada on Friday for a shot at gold, just days after losing to Latvia in the round-robin.
The U.S. was looking to go back-to-back after winning gold at the 2021 tournament, also held in Edmonton.
The Americans got off to a good start thanks to a crazy bounce. Matt Knies’ dump-in hit the backboard at a weird angle and toward the Czech net, with Matthew Coronato gaining possession. He found Logan Cooley alone on the other side of the net and the Arizona Coyotes prospect made no mistake in putting in the 1-0 goal.
But at 17:55 a late Czech goal added spice. Jan Mysak tipped in Jiri Tichacek’s point shot to tie the game and start an interesting second period.
The USA struggled to create dangerous scoring chances on Suchanek, and the Czechs made him pay for it. First, Petr Hauser’s shot whizzed past Kaidan Mbereko’s right arm to take the lead. Three minutes later, Matyas Sapovaliv somehow got the puck under Mbereko, squeaking past the goal line and in.
The Americans needed every advantage they could get, and a game misconduct for fouling Brett Berard 2:41 into the third didn’t make things easy. But after Stanislav Svozil was ejected for kneeling near the halfway mark, the USA finally found something to cheer about. At 51:31, Carter Mazur crashed the crease and poked the puck past Suchanek, making it a one-goal game.
The USA started throwing everything they had at the net, but an empty netter for Kulich in the dying minutes put a cap on the game, giving the Czech Republic a shocking 4-2 victory.