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Tuesday is the eighth day of the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship, which is being held at Scandinavium and Frolundaborg in Gothenburg, Sweden. The semi-finals will be held on Thursday, and the championship and third place games will be held on Friday.
Quarterfinal round results
Czech Republic 3, Canada 2 — Jakub Stankle (St. Louis Blues) scored two goals, including the go-ahead goal with 11 seconds left in the third period, and the Czech Republic advanced to the semifinals with a win over Scandinavia.
Stankle’s shot from the left side missed the sticks of Canadian defenseman Oliver Bonk (Philadelphia Flyers) and goaltender Matisse Rousseau (2024 draftee).
“It’s unbelievable, it feels great,” Stankel said. “I got the puck from Ondrej. [Becher] And I just tried to put it online. That was a lucky turn of events, but sometimes things like this happen. ”
For the Czech Republic, Tomas Cibulka (2024 Draft Eligible) scored a goal and Dominic Limón (2024 Draft Eligible) provided two assists. Michael Hrabal (Arizona Coyotes) made 28 saves.
In the 2023 WJC gold medal match, the Czech Republic lost to Canada 3-2 in overtime. Five players from that game played on Tuesday: defensemen Tomas Hamara (Ottawa Senators) and Ales Cech, forwards Matias Sapovaliv (Las Vegas Golden Knights) and Jiri Kulich (Buffalo Sabers). , Eduardo Sale (Seattle Kraken).
“It’s great revenge,” Stankel said. “Canada is a really good team. They’ve been a good team every year, it’s unbelievable.”
Matthew Wood (Nashville Predators) and Jake Furlong (San Jose Sharks) scored for Canada. Rousseau made 19 saves.
“It’s basically a few inches,” Canada coach Alain Letang said. “We know how to run the game when it’s close. Break here, bounce there. Every inch of that didn’t go our way tonight.”
Canada was aiming to win the WJC gold medal for the third consecutive year, a feat no country had achieved since winning five in a row from 2005 to 2009.
Owen Beck (Montreal Canadiens), the only Canadian forward to return from the 2023 WJC, said, “It’s a tough result.” “We’re all confused right now. We don’t really understand what happened. It’s a terrible way to end things.”
Stankl put the Czech Republic ahead 1-0 with a goal at 7:51 of the first period on a rush from the left side.
The Czech Republic had a chance to extend their lead at 11:04 when Raimon was awarded a penalty shot, but Rousseau made a glove save to save it.
Cibulka made it 2-0 at 18:01 when his low shot from the point landed under Rousseau.
At 3:43 of the second period, Canada scored on a breakaway by Wood to make it 2-1. Brayden Jaeger (Pittsburgh Penguins) sent a pass from the Canada zone, Easton Cowan (Toronto Maple Leafs) got ahead of Wood with one touch, and the rusher’s shot went over Hrabal’s blocker.
Furlong’s shot from the blue line went past Hrabal to tie the game at 2-2 at 16:40. It was the defenseman’s first goal of the tournament and his first in a game since Nov. 1 against Halifax in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.
USA 7, Latvia 2 — Gabe Perreault (New York Rangers) had one goal and two assists as the U.S. advanced to the semifinals at Frolund-d’Avault.
Will Smith (San Jose Sharks) and Oliver Moore (Chicago Blackhawks) each had a goal and one assist, Seamus Casey (New Jersey Devils) had three assists, and Jacob Fowler (Montreal Canadiens) had a goal and an assist for the U.S. He made 23 saves, which surpassed the U.S. record. The opponents were 36-11 in five tournament games.
“The intensity, the attention to detail, all of that is what elevates it right now,” U.S. coach David Karl told NHL Network. “We’re trying to bring our team home and they’re trying to bring us home. That’s the challenge. We have to raise all of our senses and awareness.”
Latvia had 2 goals from Dans Rokmeris (Boston Bruins) and 34 saves from Daves Rolofs (2024 draft target), and despite having 6 points in 4 qualifying round games and a -16 goal difference. advanced to the playoff round.
The United States has won all five games against Latvia at the World Juniors, including a 5-2 victory in the qualifying round of the 2023 WJC.
Drew Fortescue (New York Rangers) gave the USA a 1-0 lead with a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle at 1:31 of the first period.
Perreault made it 2-0 at the 11:42 mark with a shot from the bottom of the left circle.
“I thought we had good movement in the offensive zone when we put the puck in,” Perreault said.
Rokmeris, a freshman from the University of Massachusetts, made it 2-1 with a shot from the left circle at 13:50.
Just 13 seconds later, Danny Nelson (New York Islanders) redirected Casey’s shot from the right circle at 14:03 to make it 3-1.
“It all starts with the forwards,” Casey said. “Sifting through pucks without a screen doesn’t do any good. So they’re going to the net and fighting, that’s where they’re doing the hard work. They’re retrieving pucks and putting them in play. You did a great job of keeping them.” Repeating that over and over can wear them down. ”
At 5:22 of the second period, Rutger McGroarty (Winnipeg Jets) extended the lead to 4-1 with a power-play goal that hit the right post.
Smith completed a 2-on-1 with Perrault with a shot that hit the right post, giving him a 5-1 lead at 4:00 p.m.
Perreault smashed a knee-high floating puck into the right post for a 6-1 lead at 19:39.
At 6:34 of the third, Moore hit a wrist shot from low in the right circle to give the U.S. a 7-1 lead. Moore played on the top line for the second straight game after starting the tournament as the 13th forward on the roster.
“In single-game elimination, talent gets thrown out the window to some degree, but I think it’s all about your effort and execution within your game plan,” Karl said. “To accomplish what we need to do, we need to make sure the details are locked down.”
Rokmeris, the Latvian captain, scored a power-play goal at 12:48 in a 7-2 final.
Finland 4, Slovakia 3 (OT) — Jere Lasila scored 24 seconds into overtime to send Finland to the semifinals in Frolundaborg.
Lasila, a 2024 NHL Draft candidate, moved from outside to inside around Slovakian defenseman Maxim Štvak (Buffalo Sabers) at the blue line and scored just inside the left post on a 3-on-3 overtime game. I decided.
After consecutive losses to Canada and Germany, Finland opened the season with three consecutive wins.
Finnish captain Lasila scored a goal and an assist, and Niklas Kokko (Seattle Kraken) made 27 saves for Finland, which finished in the top three in three of the past five World Junior Championships (2019 Gold medal in 2020, silver medal in 2022, bronze medal in 2021).
For Slovakia, Philippe Messard (Montreal Canadiens) and Dalibor Dvorski (Blues) each had one goal and one assist, and Adam Gajan (Chicago Blackhawks) made 24 saves. The 19-year-old goaltender was a healthy scratch in Sunday’s final qualifying round game, a 10-2 loss to the United States, with coach Ivan Fenes choosing to rest the star goaltender before the playoff round. .
Slovakia opened the tournament for the first time in history with three consecutive wins, but lost the remaining two games.
With 44 seconds left in the third period and Messard tying the score at 3-3, Gajan got an extra attacker with a snap shot from the left faceoff circle that beat Cocco.
Aleksanteri Kaskimaki (St. Louis Blues) gave Finland a 3-2 lead with a one-time shot from the left faceoff circle at 18:26 of the third inning.
Slovakia scored at 19:59 of the first period on a rebound from the slot by Adam Sykora (New York Rangers) after winning a faceoff in the offensive zone, and Mesar found the back of the net from the right circle to make it 1-1. He led with 0.
Tomi Manisto (2024 draft prospect) picked up a pass along the right half-board at 2:36 of the second period, slid high, and scored with a snap shot to tie the game at 1-1 for Finland. did.
Leni Hamenaho (New Jersey Devils) put Gajan ahead after a turnover and then scored on a backhand from the slot to give Finland a 2-1 lead 36 seconds into the third period.
Dvorsky received a pass from the back of the net from Juraj Pekarczyk (St. Louis Blues) and scored his own rebound from the slot to tie the score at 2-2 at 7:09.
on tap
U.S. vs. Latvia (11 a.m. ET): The United States won the four preliminary round games by a combined score of 29-9 and will enter the medal round as the No. 1 overall seed. Gavin Brindley (Columbus Blue Jackets) was the biggest contributor on offense with a tournament-high six goals, matching the line with Isaac Howard (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Frank Nazar (Chicago Blackhawks). and 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists). ). Scoring depth may be the United States’ greatest strength. Jimmy Snageld (St. Louis Blues), who tied for the team lead with four goals in Sunday’s game against Slovakia, was out due to illness, Rutger McGroarty (Winnipeg Jets) had a hat trick, and Cutter Gauthier (Philadelphia)・Flyers) were there. ) had one goal and two assists in the 10-2 win. “Especially not having Jimmy in the lineup is huge for our players,” U.S. coach David Karl said. “It was huge to be here today and score 10 points without him, and we definitely need to score from our entire lineup so we can win in single-elimination tournaments.”
Latvia scored six goals and advanced to the medal round despite having a minus-16 goal difference. Sandis Vilmanis (Florida Panthers) scored 3 points (2 goals, 1 assist) in the preliminary round and took the lead.
Sweden vs. Switzerland (1:30 p.m. ET): Sweden looked like a solid team with shutout wins in their first three games, but they dominated Finland in the second and third periods in Sunday’s 5-4 penalty shootout loss. Filip Bystedt (San Jose Sharks), who is tied for the team lead in goals with three, is one of eight returning players from last year’s team, which lost to the United States in the bronze medal game and finished in fourth place. “I still have points left,” he said. It’s a feeling of anger at the way things ended. “We are a team that wants to win, but losing in the semifinals last year was tough,” he said. “This year, we couldn’t be more hungry to get through this and play in the finals.”
Switzerland’s only WJC medal was bronze in 1998, when they defeated Sweden 2-1 in the quarterfinals. It will be difficult to match that feat this year, as he scored 11 goals in four qualifying round games. Jonas Teiber (2024 Draft Eligible Player) leads Switzerland with five points (one goal, four assists), but no player has scored more than two goals.
quick links
World Junior Championship predictions
Group A preview
Group B preview
World Junior Championship Roster
Tournament schedule
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