BUFFALO, NY – Canada beat Russia 6-3, Switzerland outlasted Germany 4-3 and Sweden blasted Norway 7-1 in the opening games of the 2011 International Ice Hockey Federation’s U20 Championship Tournament. Meanwhile the 2010 defending Gold Medalist US National Team won a tough defensive battle over Finland 3-2 at the 3:08 mark of overtime. The U.S. squandered two leads in the game against the Finns who may have deserved a better fate.
Group A USA-3, Finland-2 (OT)
Bjugstad gets game winner-photo courtesy USA Hockey
Overtime wins in the Preliminary Round are worth two points while a regulation victory is worth three points. Thus, the Americans trail Switzerland in the overall points’ standings in Group A after the first day action.
Carolina Hurricanes draft choice defenseman Justin Faulk who plays for the University of Minnesota-Duluth in the Western Collegiate Hockey League got the opening goal for the U.S. His power play goal and the 1-0 USA lead stood up as the two teams skated off for the first intermission. Finland capitalized on a USA turnover in their own zone at 13:50 in period two to tie the score. Forward Joonas Nattinen b eat Campbell in close to tie it up.
Team USA came back quickly at 15:08 as forward Jason Zucker helped the Americans reclaim a 2-1 lead. Zucker, a member of last year’s medalist team used a short side wrist shot up high over the glove of Finnish goalie Joni Ortio to net the unassisted strike. Zucker who hails from Las Vegas Nevada is currently leading all freshmen in scoring (14g-7a-21p) among NCAA Division One Collegiate players. He skates for the University of Denver in the WCHA. The 2-1 U.S. lead held up until the 13:08 mark of period three when the Finnish forward Jiro Pakarinen pushed a rebound past Campbell to tie the score at 2-2 and silence the large crowd.
Team USA had several chances in the last few minutes of regulation but couldn’t beat Ortio until Bjugstad a Blaine, Minnesota product who plays for the University of Minnesota solved Ortio in OT. Both teams play again on Tuesday when the U.S. skates against Slovakia and the Finns draw Switzerland.
Zucker celebrates his goal-photo courtesy USA Hockey
Group A Switzerland-4, Germany-3
Switzerland hammered Germany with four first period goals from four different players building a lead that Germany could not overcome despite a tremendous comeback effort in the opening game of the 2011 International Ice Hockey Federation’s World Junior Championship Tournament. The game was skated at HBSC Arena in Buffalo. The Swiss got goals from Inti Pestoni, Nino Niederreiter, age 18 who has played in the NHL this season with the New York Islanders, Roman Loeffel and Luca Camperchioli within the first 14 minutes of the period one. Losing German goaltender Philipp Grubauer was then pulled in favor of Niklas Treutle and the change sparked the German squad.
First Marcel Noebels rebounded an original shot from the point past the eventual winning Swiss goalie Benjamin Conz early in period two. While this was the only goal of the period in the face of heavy German pressure all period long. Despite more even play in the final the Germans dominated the entire second period. In the final 20 minutes Matthias Plachta and Corey Mapes drew Germany within one goal at 4-3 but the Swiss managed to tighten up and hold on for the win. Switzerland plays Finland on Tuesday while Germany plays Slovakia tomorrow as Preliminary Round play in Group A continues.
Group B: Sweden-7, Norway-1
In the only game of the day played in Niagara, the Swedes rolled past Norway at Dyer Arena. Sweden jumped out to an early lead and was never threatened by the outsized Norwegian team. Norway which returned to the top division in the IIHF’s U20 age group this year gave up a quick goal in the game’s first minute to John Klingberg. About five minutes later the Swedes took a 2-0 lead off a goal by Oscar Lindberg. They carried that lead into the second period. Sweden continued the onslaught when at 4:09 into the period Patrick Cehlin got his first of two goals in the game. He poked a rebound past losing goaltender Lars Volden for his initial tally. He picked up his second goal in the game near the end of the period to run the lead to 4-0 about 30 seconds before the horn sounded.
The third period saw Sweden score three times on strikes by Tim Erixon, Gabriel Landeskog and Klingsberg who also picked up his second goal. Norway got a single tally from Eirik Borresen.
Fredrik Petersson faced only 10 shots in picking up the win in goal for Sweden.
Next up for Norway will be the Czech Republic on Monday as Sweden skates against Russia Tuesday.
Group B Canada-6, Russia-3
The Russians hung in against one of the pre tournament favorites Team Canada for two periods before the Canadians broke a 3-3 tie in the last stanza to claim a 6-3 win on HBSC Arena ice. Russia has not beaten Canada in U20 play since 2003 when a young NHL prospect named Alexander Ovechkin led Russia to a 3-2 win and the Gold Medal.
The Russians got off to a good start when Vladimir Tarasenko set up Yuri Urychev for a one-timer past Canadian Goalie Olivier Roy for a 1-0 lead at the 3:57 mark of the opening period. The goal came after Russia managed to withstand and onslaught of checks and scoring opportunities by the Canadians.
The heavy Canadian pressure finally paid off late in the period as Marcus Foligno got the first period equalizer at 17:58. Canada’s Ran Ellis put his team up 2-1 in period two as his hard shot from the point missed the net but banged off the boards and deflected into the net off the skate of losing goaltender Igor Bobkov. However, less than a minute later Russia tied the game 2-2 as Nikita Dvurechenksi surprised Roy from just inside the blue line with a slapper.
Erik Gudbrandson gave Canada another short lived 3-2 lead but Russia used a power play by Danil Sobchenko who scored on power play to even the score and send the teams into the final intermission tied 3-3. The first six minutes of the final stanza gave Canada the impetus they needed to grab the victory. Ryan Johansen banged a loose puck past Bobkov on an early third period power play for what turned out to be the game winner.
Another power play goal by Brayden Schenn less than two minutes later and a late period goal with less than 30 seconds remaining in the game by Curtis Hamilton sealed the win.
Canada draws the Czech Republic next while Russia faces last year’s Bronze Medal winner Sweden. Both games are set for Tuesday.
The 10-team tournament format has the top six teams in each Group advancing to the Playoff Round. The fourth and fifth place teams move into the Relegation Round. The top seeded team from each group receives a bye for the Quarter-Finals and move automatically into the Semi-Finals. The remaining Playoff Round qualifiers play quarterfinal games to determine who moves forward to play the Group winners in the Semi-Finals.
Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
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