BUFFALO, NY- Fans attending the New Year’s Eve clash at the HSBC Arena saw Canada and Sweden wage an epic back and forth battle with a surprise ending as Sweden beat Canada 6-5 in a shootout. The last time Canada lost in Preliminary Round action it was also the Swedes who beat them so today was a bit of unexpected déjà vu. The win puts Sweden into the Semi-Finals while Canada will now play Switzerland in the Quarter finals.
Later in the evening the USA U20 team edged Switzerland 2-1 to take the Group A Semi-Final spot. In other games Russia sent the Czechs into the Relegation Round 8-3 as Russia moves on to the Quarterfinals and will play Finland which hammered Slovakia 6-0. The winner of Canada versus Switzerland will play the USA in the Semi Finals while the winner of the Quarter-Final contest between Finland and Russia will meet Sweden in the other Semi-Final game. A summary of the last day of Preliminary Round action follows: Group A: Finland-6, Slovakia-0 Finland buried Slovakia to temporarily claim first place in Group A in an early afternoon game at HSBC Arena. They ended up second when the USA edged Switzerland later in the day. The Finnish team completed the Preliminary Round with three wins and an overtime loss to the USA good for 10 points. Joni Ortio produced his second tournament shutout sweeping aside 17 shots of goal. He was rarely tested as the Slovaks seem to show their disappointment in already knowing that they would have to play in the Relegation Round starting Sunday. Ortio will go into the next round with a sparkling 1.0 goals against average. He got all the offense he needed from a rare Finnish born US collegiate player Erik Haula who scored twice. The winning goal came early in period one as Miikka Salomaki age 17 scored at the 1:40 mark of the game. The Finns led 3-0 at the end of the first period. In addition to Salomaki’s score they got power play goals from Haula and defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka. Haula played a year of Junior hockey in the Tier One United States Hockey League with the Omaha Lancers and leveraged his USHL experience into a hockey scholarship with the University of Minnesota. He is in his first year at Minnesota. Joonas Donskoi put his team up 4-0 with the Finns’ third straight power play goal 06:45 into the second period, Two minutes later Haula’s got his second score while his team was short-handed. This goal came less than two minutes after Donskoi struck for his score. Finally Finland made it 6-0 at the 17:39 mark as Valtteri Virkkunen banged in his first WJC goal for the final score of the game. A scoreless third period gave Finland the win and the need to watch the scoreboard to see the outcome of the USA versus Switzerland. Meanwhile the Slovakians must prepare mentally to play Norway in the Relegation Round starting on Sunday. USA-2, Switzerland-1 Switzerland struck first at 7:01 of the opening period when Inti Prestoni beat American goal tender Jack Campbell on his blocker side from the slot. It was only the fourth goal the US has given up to date in the tournament. The early Swiss goal was a portend of what was to become a tough close battle for the US team. The US responded however on a beautiful set up by Charlie Coyle who used a backhand pass into the slot from behind the net with a defenseman hanging on to him. Chris Kreider one timed the shot from about eight feet past Benjamin Conz in goal for Switzerland who didn’t have a chance on the bag bang play. The second period saw Switzerland gain confidence as the held the US scoreless while coming close several times themselves. Finally, late in the period Brock Nelson captured a puck in deep on the boards and passed it to Mitch Callahan behind the net. Callahan faked left but went right and when Conz failed to move quickly to the other side of the net he stuffed a wrap around goal in for a 2-1 US lead. It was a rarer mistake for Conz who kept the game close stonewalling the Americans repeatedly. Period two ended 2-1. The last period featured US goal tender Jack Campbell and Conz who traded great saves while also hearing the goal post ring once each on near misses by both teams. Conz stopped 40 of 42 shots in the loss while Campbell made 25 saves. In the end the US defense held on and moved into the lead in Group A with 11 points and a berth in the Tournament Semi-Finals. Group B: Canada-5, Sweden-6 (Shootout) Sweden stunned the huge Canadian dominated crowd that turned the HBSC Arena into home ice for Team Canada in a shootout. The high scoring affair came down to which goalie would make the fewest mistakes in the shootout round. In the end Team Canada goal tender Olivier Roy was unable to stop Oscar Lindberg and Anton Lander in the shootout round. His counterpart in goal for Sweden Robin Lehner however stopped the tournament’s leading goal scorer Brayden Schenn and team captain Ryan Ellis to gain the win. Both teams started fast in what was a preview of the entire game. Canada jumped out front 1-0 at 0:58 into the period. Forward Carl Klingberg attempted to clear the puck out of his zone but the pass was grabbed just outside the zone by Canada’s Sean Couturier. His attempted pass to the on rushing forward Marcus Foligno hit a Swedish skate instead and deflected past Lehner. Bingo! The big crowd was ecstatic over the fast Canadian start. The euphoria lasted just over a minute as the Swedes cashed in on their first power play with 2:14 on the clock. Max Friberg used a baseball type swing to smack a puck that came to him on a rebound off Roy. It arrived about waist high and he drilled it with a nice level swing. The initial shot came from Richard Rakell who got an assist. Sweden took their first lead of the evening as Klingberg made up for his earlier mistake with a high wrist shot on Roy’s glove side that found the net. It was now apparently Canada’s turn to score. They tied it up at 2-2 when Lehner seemed to misplay a soft shot off the stick of Quinton Howden. His score came less than a minute after Klingberg had scored. The ping pong effect continued as Canada grabbed another lead with just one second left in period one. A hard shot off the back boards by Ryan Johansen rebounded perfectly to Curtis Hamilton who had driven into the crease for the tap in. Television replays validated the goal had crossed the line before time expired and Canada skated off for the first intermission with a 3-2 lead. Sweden roared back with the next two goals to grab the lead back. They scored twice in the first three minutes of period two to go up 4-3. Klingberg’s second goal in the game tied it up 0:52 seconds into the period and Jesper Thornberg scored at the 2:44 mark. Klingberg’s score came when Roy couldn’t control an original shot while Thornberg simply launched a shot from just inside the blue line that Roy missed. Canada forced a 4-4 tie in dramatic fashion when they got a shorthanded goal as Hamilton picked up his second goal in the game. He broke loose behind the defense as Schenn hit him with a perfect pass that he shifted to his forehand and buried the puck. Hamilton’s second goal came at 14:37 and ended second period scoring. Sweden got into penalty trouble early in period three. Adam Larsson drew a slashing penalty just 44 seconds into the final period. This was compounded by a second minor to Sweden with 18 seconds left on Larsson’s minor. Sweden survived the two man disadvantage but Schenn got his 7th goal of the tournament before time expired on the last penalty. Canada held on to the 5-4 lead until with just over eight minute remaining Swedish forward Patrick Cehlin beat Roy with a high shot to tie the game at 5-5. Both teams drew minors in the final five minutes but neither team cashed in. After a scoreless overtime the shootout resolved the outcome. Canada will now play XXX in the Quarterfinals as Sweden goes into the Semi-Finals. Czech Republic-3, Russia-8 Pundits have said the Russians can sometimes be the best and sometimes the worst team in the WJC. Today the Russians came to play and ensured they would not have to play in the Relegation Round. They sent the Czech Republic into that round with a convincing 8-3 win at Dyer Arena in Niagara, NY. It was their seventh straight win over the Czechs in U20 WJC competition. The Czechs will now play Germany in their first game of the Relegation Round. The Russians who picked up their second straight win catch Finland on Sunday in the Quarterfinals. The Russians dominated the Czechs displaying the offense that many expected would carry them deep into the tournament. They had lost their first two games before beating Norway and the Czechs to qualify for the Playoff Round.
Eight players lit the lamp as the Russians got balanced scoring from all of their lines. Team Captain Vladimir Tarasenko who is in his third year in the Kontinental Hockey League led his team in scoring with a goal and three assists. Seven players had two points or more in the team wide offensive effort. Michal Hlinka led the Czechs with a goal and one assist. Dmitri Shikin got the win in net stopping 31 of 34 shots by the Czechs while Marek Mazanec who started took the loss. He allowed six goals on 16 shots. He was relieved early in the third period by Flip Novotny who gave up two goals while facing 11 shots. Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
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