24 hours after their resounding victory against Germany, the Canadian U20 selection at the IIHF Junior World Championship 2023 in Halifax and Moncton on Thursday also defeated the representation from Austria by double digits. The Swiss juniors had to bow to the USA.
USA – Switzerland 5:1 (1:0/3:1/1:0)
After beating Finland in overtime and Latvia in a penalty shoot-out, Switzerland found their champion in the USA at Moncton’s Avenir Centre. The US boys proved to be the more mature team and achieved a goal shot ratio of 42:19 over the 60 minutes. For a good 18 minutes, Swiss goalie Alessio Beglieri was the terminus for the USA’s attacking efforts, then they gave Jimmy Snuggerud a 1-0 lead with his first of two goals.
The Americans made the preliminary decision in the middle third when they consistently used their power play situations through Logan Cooley and Snuggerud. Tyler Boucher increased it to 4:0 118 seconds before the end of the period. With 28 seconds left in the half, captain Attilio Biasca’s consolation goal spoiled US goalkeeper Trey Augustine’s shutout ambitions. Luke Hughes finished the game in the 54th minute.
“We didn’t stick to our game plan. We weren’t disciplined and we took way too many penalties. You just can’t do that against a good team like this. You have to be disciplined and stay out of the box, but we got out of it learned for the rest of the tournament,” Biasca summed up the game.
Both teams are already qualified for the quarterfinals. The USA meets Finland on New Year’s Eve and Switzerland meets Slovakia in the final group game.
Austria – Canada 0:11 (0:3/0:4/0:4)
The Austrian juniors still have to wait for their first tournament goal. In a one-sided game, they clearly lost to Canada at Halifax’s Scotiabank Centre. From the first minute, the Canadians put enormous pressure on the Austrian goalkeeper Benedikt Oschgan, but it was not until the 15th minute that he had to admit defeat for the first time by Dylan Guenther with a majority.
Then it went in quick succession: Zach Dean, Shane Wright, Joshua Roy, Connor Bedard and Nolan Allan increased to 6:0 when just 25:35 minutes had been completed. Logan Stankoven made it 7-0 before the second break.
The Canadians didn’t give up in the final section either: Adam Fantilli, two Tyson Hinds, Nathan Gaucher and Bedard still wanted to score.
The Canadians will play Sweden for first place in Group A on New Year’s Eve, while bottom-placed Austria play Germany on Friday.
Sweden – Czech Republic 3:2 aet (0:0/2:1/0:1/1:0)
An unblemished record of two wins from two games each saw Sweden and Czech juniors ahead of their clash at Halifax’s Scotiabank Centre. The teams also met on an equal footing in this game, which the Scandinavians won in overtime with a goal from Ludvig Jansson.
The opponents showed a lot of respect for each other from the start, started very disciplined and initially focused on preventing goals. Which they managed to do until the first break. In the second half, the game picked up speed with three goals in just under four minutes. David Jiricek inflicted Sweden’s first goal of the tournament and gave the Czech Republic a 1-0 lead. But at the same time as the goal, Ales Cech received a 2-minute penalty and shortly after this overnumber situation had expired, Fabian Wagner made it 1:1. The Czech team looked stunned and 90 seconds after equalizing, Jansson put Sweden in front for the first time with his first goal of the game. In the period that followed up to the end of the third, both teams were unable to capitalize on two power plays each.
In the final section, the Czech Republic had a lot more of the game and pushed for the 2:2, which Jiri Tichacek managed just under six minutes before the end of regular time. However, the Swedes had the happier end on their side.
Sweden meets Canada and the Czech Republic meets Germany in the final group game on New Year’s Eve.
Latvia 0-3 Finland (0-1/0-1/0-1)
A 3-0 win over Latvia at Moncton’s Avenir Center and seven points from three appearances gave the Finnish juniors their shot at first place in Group A. Jani Lampinen kept his goal clean with 31 saves and brought in the dedicated ones Latvians almost to desperation. Once again, the Latvians’ weakness in the end turned out to be their biggest shortcoming in this tournament.
The favored Finns dealt with their chances to score much more effectively. Evenly distributed over the three sections of the game, Jani Nyman, Niko Huuhtanen and Konsta Kapanen scored the goals to win with a goal that was now orphaned. Latvia goalkeeper Patriks Berzins made 26 saves.
Bottom-bottomed Latvia have a point from three games and will need a win in the last group game against Slovakia on Friday to hold a chance of a place in the quarter-finals.