EDMONTON, AB – The U-20 World Junior Championships (WJC) sponsored by the International Ice Hockey Federation will see two of the expected gold medal contenders’ move on to the playoff round. Both Russia and Canada won their third straight games in the tournament last evening. Russia hammered Latvia 14-0 and Canada overwhelmed Denmark 10-2. While neither team is assured of first place in their group the wins assure that both teams will remain in medal contention after the Preliminary Round schedule is completed on Saturday.
The tournament is initially divided into two preliminary round groupings. Group A participants include Latvia, Russia, Switzerland, Slovakia and Sweden while the B Group consists of Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland and the United States. Preliminary round games are being held in Edmonton for Group B participants and in Calgary for Group A teams.
Teams are awarded three points for a regulation time win, two points for a win in overtime and one point for an overtime loss. After the round-robin preliminary series, the top three teams in each group advance to the playoff round.
The top seeded teams in each group after the preliminary round get a bye in the Quarterfinal Round thus moving directly into the Semi-Finals. The other playoff qualifiers play in the Quarterfinals for the right to move into the Semi-Finals. The Quarterfinals and all subsequent action will be held in Calgary with the Gold Medal game scheduled for January 5, 2012.
Russia vs. Latvia and Canada vs. Denmark were the only two games played in yesterday’s competition. On Friday four games are on the schedule. The United States squad plays the Czech Republic and Finland will face-off against Denmark in Edmonton. The Calgary venue features games between Sweden and Slovakia and Switzerland takes the ice versus Latvia.
Highlights of yesterday’s game action follows:
Group A Action:
Russia-14, Latvia-0
Russian captain and Washington Capitals prospect Yevgeni Kuznetsov failed to score in Russia’s first two games of the WJC. However, in a single game he tied for the overall tournament scoring lead registering a nine point evening in the rout of Latvia. He scored a hat trick and added six assists at the Saddledome in Calgary to lead his team in scoring. His teammate Nikita Gusev also had a career night with seven points including two goals. The two are tied for the overall WJC individual scoring lead with nine points each. Alexander Khokhlachev also had a multiple goal game with two scores to his credit. Other Russian offensive standouts included Nikita Nesterov (1-g-2a-3p) while Nail Yakupov and Nikita Kucherov chipped in three assists each. Meanwhile Russia’s young goal tender Andrei Vasilevski, age 17 earned his second start and a second straight shutout in the win. Latvia’s loss assures they will play in the Relegation Round.
Canada-10, Denmark-2
Canada continued to lead the way in Group B with the huge win against Denmark. The issue was settled quickly as the Canadians scored four times in the first period to the delight of almost all of the 16,275 present at the Rexall Center in Edmonton. Denmark has yet to record a point in the standings at this year’s WJC. They will need to survive the Relegation Round to play in next season’s event. Canada’s offense was absolutely awesome as defenseman Scott Harrington (1g-3a) had a four point night and another blue liner Brandon Gormley netted two goals and added an assist to demonstrate Canada’s punch from the defensive corps. Forward Mark Stone continued his scoring binge also picking up two goals and an assist. Other goals for Canada were scored by Quinton Howden, Ryan Strome, Freddie Hamilton, Brendan Gallagher and Brett Connolly. Sebastian Feuk took the loss as he faced 51 shots on goal in the game. Mark Visentin in the net for Canada made 24 saves on the 26 shots he faced. Nicolai Meyer and Emil Kristensen had the Danish goals. Canada had built a 7-0 lead before the two Danish players scored in the third period but after these two goals Canada’s offense closed out the game with three straight markers.
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