World Junior Championship pocket book: USA despatched dwelling early, Canada wins huge

Lafreniere brings life to lineup as Canada dominates SlovakiaCanada had no problem tackling Slovakia in Thursday’s quarterfinal, advancing to the semifinal by the use of a cushty 6-1 victory.
The win didn’t come with out some early controversy, nevertheless. Lower than one minute into the competition, Canadian winger Nolan Foote was ejected for head contact, nevertheless it appeared upon additional evaluate that Foote’s hit Kristian Kovacik was to the shoulder and never the top. Penalties are usually not reviewable in an IIHF contest, although, which meant Canada wanted to kill the five-minute main. And after the profitable kill, Canada exacted some revenge as Alexis Lafreniere – in his first sport again from a leg damage – discovered Barrett Hayton, who despatched the puck over goaltender Samuel Hlavaj to make it 1-Zero.
That rating held via the rest of the primary body, however the wheels on the Slovakian bus fell off within the second. One minute into the center body, Connor McMichael doubled Canada’s lead with a superbly positioned over Hlavaj’s blocker, and Jacob Bernard-Docker grabbed his first level of the event minutes later when he deked previous a Slovakian winger earlier than rifling one dwelling to present Canada a commanding Three-Zero lead. Not lengthy after, Liam Foudy and Alexis Lafreniere scored a minute aside across the halfway mark of the interval to make it 5-Zero and all however seal the deal. Hayton scored one other early within the third to chase Hlavaj, and Slovakia’s Oliver Okuliar scored late within the sport, nevertheless it was tutorial at that time.
Canada is now set for a semifinal assembly with Finland, who beat the Canadians within the quarterfinal final yr en path to a gold medal.
Finland shuts out USA in shocking quarterfinal resultOne yr in the past, this was the gold medal matchup. Now, followers have been handled to 2 powerhouse squads going head-to-head in a quarterfinal battle. And it didn’t disappoint.
By means of the primary 40 minutes, the story was considered one of controversy. Mere minutes into the sport, Finland’s Kristian Tanus delivered an elbow to the top of Jack Drury, however play was allowed to proceed with out the examine drawing a penalty, and solely minutes after Tanus’ ugly hit, USA’s John Beecher levelled Eemil Erholtz from behind. Beecher escaped with a minor penalty.
As soon as the sport settled, it become a goaltending duel with American netminder Spencer Knight and Finnish keeper Justus Annunen stealing the present. Neither netminder confirmed a single crack via the primary two frames and it grew to become obvious that the sport could possibly be determined by whichever staff struck first. And within the third interval, it was the Finns who delivered when Joonas Oden scored on the ability play Four:23 into the body. On the objective, Tanus faked a go to the purpose and as an alternative discovered Oden within the slot, and he made no mistake, sending a one-timer previous Knight to make it 1-Zero Finland.
From there, Finland clogged up the ice and shut the People down. They struggled to generate a lot within the body, mustering solely 5 photographs via the primary 16 minutes, and Annunen stood tall when examined, posting a 30-save shutout.
With the victory, Finland advances to the semifinal in opposition to Canada, and if the Finns can transfer on to the ultimate, they are going to have an opportunity to win gold in consecutive years for the primary time in event historical past.
Russia’s energy play powers victory over SwitzerlandRussia will play for a medal for the 23rd time prior to now 28 years after skating to a Three-1 victory over Switzerland within the quarterfinal.
Regardless of controlling the opening interval, outshooting the Swiss 10-Three via the primary body, the Russians did not get on the scoreboard, however that modified within the second interval. Little greater than 70 seconds into the second, Dmitri Denisenko fired dwelling an influence play objective to open the scoring and provides Russia a 1-Zero lead. That lead held for mere minutes, nevertheless, as Gaetan Jobin acquired the Swiss on the board with considered one of their very own to knot the sport at one apiece. Earlier than the interval was out, although, a pair of late Russian objectives buried Switzerland. With roughly six minutes left within the second, Alexander Khovanov stole the puck from behind the web, discovered Denisenko, slipped out entrance and completed off the play to revive the Russian lead, and Dmitri Voronkov pushed the result in Three-1 with Russia’s second energy play tally of the outing 4 minutes later.
The 2-goal deficit was an excessive amount of for the Swiss, who did not crack Russian netminder Yaroslav Askarov within the closing body and have been despatched packing within the quarterfinal. Following the win, Russia will advance to tackle Sweden within the semifinal.
Czechs no match for SwedenIt wasn’t ending for which the hosts had hoped because the Czech Republic fell 5-Zero to Sweden in quarterfinal motion.
Particular groups have been an element within the first, with Nils Hoglander placing Sweden on the board first with an influence play objective 13 minutes into the competition, and two minutes later, this time on the penalty kill, Sweden’s Hugo Gustafsson capitalized on Czech goaltender Lukas Dostal’s puck-playing gaffe and deposited one into an empty internet to place Sweden forward 2-Zero after the primary interval.
Hoglander, among the many event’s high scorers with three objectives and 7 factors via spherical robin play, was on it within the second. The Swedish winger notched his second level of the sport and tied Trevor Zegras for the event scoring lead by one-timing a feed from Rasmus Sandin previous Dostal simply 45 seconds into the center stanza to make it Three-Zero Sweden. Later, Victor Soderstrom added a penalty shot objective and David Gustafsson deposited a Hoglander feed put a bow on the sport.
With the win, Sweden will problem Russia for an opportunity to advance to the ultimate. The U-20 sides have break up the 2 worldwide conferences this season, however Sweden has outscored the Russians 7-2 in these conferences.
Kazakhstan on brink of relegation following loss to GermanyAfter struggling a Four-Zero loss to Germany in Recreation 1 of the three-game relegation collection, Kazakhstan finds itself in a must-win scenario if it desires to stay within the high event.
Kazakhstan began sturdy in Recreation 1, taking a 7-6 shot benefit into first intermission, however a handful of penalties suffocated the Kazakhs’ momentum as they managed solely three photographs within the center interval whereas Germany’s trio of 2020 draft prospects – Tim Stutzle, Lukas Reichel and John Peterka – every mustered a number of factors all through the ultimate 40 minutes, the latter two potting objectives. Louis Brune and Dominik Bokk had the opposite objectives for Germany.
Germany has an opportunity to safe its spot within the 2021 event with a victory Saturday. If Kazakhstan wins, a 3rd sport will happen previous to Sunday’s bronze medal sport.
Draft WatchRussian goaltender Askarov has taken the beginning gig again from Amir Miftakhov. With a 14-save effort in opposition to Switzerland, Askarov did precisely what he wanted to safe the position shifting ahead, too. The youngest goalie within the event, Askarov, 17, is projected to go within the high 10 of the 2020 draft and has been the highest goaltender in almost each earlier worldwide occasion through which he has participated. He’s eligible for 2 extra World Junior Championship tournaments and will earn some extra hardware earlier than it’s throughout.
Three Stars
Barrett Hayton, Canada (2G, 1A, 3P) – With Canada again at full power, Hayton was again with Lafreniere and lethal in opposition to Slovakia.
Dmitri Voronkov, Russia (2G, 0A, 2P) – Take Voronkov’s contributions out of the equation and it’s a 1-1 sport. He led Russia with six photographs, scoring on two of them.
Justus Annunen, Finland (30-save shutout) – If it wasn’t for Annunen’s heroics, the People’ talent would have been overpowering.
Saturday – Jan. Four, 2019Germany vs. Kazakhstan, Recreation 2, 5 a.m. ETSweden vs. Russia, 9 a.m. ETCanada vs. Finland, 1 p.m. ET
Sunday – Jan. 5, 2019Germany vs. Kazakhstan, Recreation Three (if wanted), 5 a.m. ETThird-place sport, 9 a.m. ETChampionship sport, 1 p.m. ET
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Tags: world junior championshipConnect: In regards to the AuthorSteven EllisSteven Ellis is a Digital Content material Producer for The Hockey Information. He spends his free time listening to music you would not like and watches obnoxiously-long motor races.