CALGARY, AB – Slovakia overcame a stubborn Latvian team 3-1 Tuesday night to win their first foray into the 2012 World Junior Championship. The series being held in Alberta, Canada is sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation. The loss was Latvia’s second of the tournament virtually assuring they will have to play in the relegation round after preliminary round action is over.
Latvian goal tender Kristers Gudlevskis made 42 saves on 45 shots to keep his team in the game and although extremely impressive was saddled with the loss. Meanwhile at the other end Slovakia’s net minder Juraj Simboch stopped 25 shots for the winners.
The teams skated through a scoreless first period and into the second period before Latvia broke out to a 1-0 lead. The game’s first goal came at 6:41 of the second period. Juris Ziemas caught a rebound that caromed off the backboards right into the slot and hammered home the only Latvian goal of the game. Arturs Kuzmenkovs got the lone assist awarded on the goal.
Slovakia struck back at 15:28 as Tomas Jurco got a tip in from in close on a hard shot from the point by Slovakian defenseman Martin Marincin. While there were other solid chances in the middle period both goalies held on and the teams skated off for the second intermission tied 1-1.
The Slovaks forged into a 2-1 lead with an early third period score. Marek Tvrdon pounced on a loose puck in the crease and beat Gudlevskis who was down after making an initial difficult save on the play. The goal at 2:01 turned out to be the game winner and drew assists from Milos Bubela and Michal Toman.
While the Latvians continued to press creating several scoring opportunities in the final period the Slovaks were able to seal the win with an empty netter by Toman with just 37 seconds left in the game. Richard Mraz was credited with an assist on the insurance marker. Latvia had pulled their goalie with over a minute to play for an extra attacker. The Slovakians have now won four straight times against the Latvians in WJC matchups.
Wednesday night’s WJC action features a full four game schedule. Finland plays the USA and Canada faces off against Finland in Group B while Slovakia plays Russia and Switzerland clashes with Sweden in Group A action.
After the round-robin preliminary series, the top three teams in Groups A and B advance to the playoff round. Meanwhile the fourth and fifth place teams move to the relegation round. Teams receive three points for a regulation time win, two points for an overtime or shootout win and one point for an overtime or shootout loss in the preliminary round.
The top seeded teams in each group after the preliminary round get byes 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.
Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
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