ADMONTON, AB – Team USA (1-2) was beaten 5-2 by the Czech Republic (2-1) in early day action on Friday at the World Junior Championships sponsored by the International Ice Hockey Federation. The loss coupled with Finland’s win 10-1 over Denmark later in the day eliminated the USA Junior National Team from the playoff round. The Americans are now forced to play in the relegation round and win to avoid being sent to a lower classification for next year’s competition.
In other action Friday Sweden blasted Slovakia 9-1 and Switzerland eased past Latvia 5-3. The win by Sweden sets up a dramatic faceoff Saturday between the Swedes and Russia (3-0) for first place in Group A and a bye into the Semi-Finals for the winner. Additionally the final spot in the Quarter-Finals from Group A is at stake as Switzerland and Slovakia will face each other Saturday with the winner moving on to the medal round.
The USA loss in Group B placed Canada directly into the Semi-Finals and gives the Czechs a berth in the quarter finals. The American must still play a meaningless Preliminary Round game against Canada on New Year’s Eve. The game a traditional high drama clash may have lost its luster given the USA failure in the Preliminary Round. Highlights of Friday’s action follow:
Group A
Switzerland-5, Latvia-3
The action in the Calgary Saddledome in the game between the Swiss (1-1-1) and the Latvians (0-4) wasn’t settled until the third period. Even though winless in the tournament Latvia played well in this game tying the score 3-3 at the 12:42 mark of the final stanza before the Swiss pulled away less than half a minute later. Latvia’s last score came off a nice shot from Vitalijs Hvorostinins. The Swiss however scored two quick responses as Gaetan Haas who had two goals in the game scored at 13:04 followed by Christian Marti at 14:03 to break the game open. Earlier scores for Latvia came from Toms Andersons and Nikita Jevpalovs. Tom Wolf in goal for the Swiss team got the win stopping 20 shots while Kristers Gudlevskis made 36 saves on the 41 shots he faced. Latvia now moves to the Relegation Round.
Sweden-9, Slovakia-1
Sweden ran its record to 3-0 coasting to a win over Slovakia (1-2) to set up a winner take all match against Russia Saturday night for first place in Group A and an automatic bye into the Semi-Finals for the winner. The Swedes trail Russia by a single point in the standings as one of their wins came in overtime and accordingly was worth two points rather than the full three points for a regulation time win. Sweden’s Eric Thorell and Sebastian Colberg had two goals each and finished with three points on the night. Johan Sundstrom, Max Friberg, Mika Zibanejad, Rickard Rakell and Joakim Nordstrom also added single goals to the Swedes scoreboard total. The Swedes badly outshot the Slovak team as Swedish goal tender Anton Forsberg saw 15 shots on goal while his counterpart Dominik Riecicky was bombarded with 55 shots making 46 saves.
Group B
Czech Republic-5, USA-2
The huge crowd in Edmonton’s Rexall Place was largely ecstatic as the United States a team that figured to be a stumbling block for the host team Canada fell to the Czechs behind the outstanding goaltending of Petr Mrazek. The Detroit Red Wings prospect swept aside 52 of the 54 shots he faced including stopping a late game penalty shot that could have been the game winner. He faced and stopped 21 of the shots he faced in a final period US offensive frenzy. The USA was also victim to its ineptitude on the power play especially in the opening stanza when the American had a major penalty, a minor and a double minor power called against their opponents but were able to score just once. The US juniors led twice in the game but could not hold 1-0 and 2-1 leads against the never say die Czech Republic squad. American goalie Jack Campbell a hero in the USA gold medal win two years ago was not at his best tonight although one of the Czech goals came into any empty net. The US goals came from TJ Tynan in period one and Bill Arnold who scored to give the USA a 2-1 lead in the second stanza. Tomas Filippi answered Tynan’s goal and the Hertl tied the game at 2-2 in the second period. On the evening the Czechs got two goals from Tomas Filippi and Petr Holik. The first Holik goal at 12:26 of the final stanza was the game winner. Filippi’s second goal at 17:19 put the game further out of reach and Holik put the nail in the USA coffin with an empty netter at 18:34. The results for the USA squad must be extraordinarily bitter to a team is composed of veteran players and was favored to compete for a medal in the U-20 World Championships.
Finland-10, Denmark-1
The second game at Rexall Place featured a four goal outburst by Finland’s Teemu Pukkinen as he tied an IIHF WJC record with the four tallies. The Dane’s managed a single goal in their fourth loss of the Preliminary Round off the stick of Patrick Bjorkstrand. Pukkinen got offensive help from Miikka Salomaki who picked up four points with two goals and two assists and Ville Pokka who had three points including a goal. Other Finnish goals were scored by Jani Hakanpaa, Joel Armia and Mikael Kuronen. The Finns have now qualified for the Quarter-finals going into their final Preliminary Round game.
Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
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