Throughout the World Juniors tournament, we’ll be keeping track of all the action and bringing you all of the results in one place.
Germany vs. Kazakhstan
The knockout round is here, and we kicked things off yesterday with the relegation game, and it was a wild one. Kazakhstan, still without a win in this tournament, got off to a hot start to the game, jumping out to a lead on a goal by Assanali Ruslanuly inside the first five minutes of play, but this also served to wake the Germans up — Maxim Schafer responded with a goal to tie things up just eight seconds later. Kazakhstan managed to pull ahead again before the first intermission (this time thanks to Nikita Sitnikov) though, and a tone was certainly set.
The Kazakhs managed to extend their lead early in the second period, and it looked like they might just be able to pull away with the momentum and avoid immediate re-relegation, but luck wasn’t on their side here. The Germans found their feet again, responding to that third goal quickly again, but this time not letting go of the momentum. They scored two more unanswered — one in the second period and another to ice the game early in the third period, and as they managed to contain the Kazakhs well through the final frame, they pulled off the win and avoided relegation once again.
Final: Germany 4 – Kazakhstan 3
Sweden vs. Latvia
The first of the quarterfinal games followed, and this was another exciting and close one. In the early goings, it looked like the magic may have worn off for this hot Latvian team, and Sweden might just run away with this one. The Swedes put up two goals in under a minute and a half (from Zeb Forsfjall and Anton Wahlberg) before we even hit the midway point of the first frame, and then they extended that lead even further with a third goal in the second period.
But not so fast, the Latvians weren’t going to go away quietly, Eriks Mateiko made sure of it, answering with two goals of his own in the second period to pull his team back within one. The hope was that they could continue that push and make things really interesting in the third period, but they seemed to run out of gas a bit, and Sweden really took over — the Swedes outshot them 18-2 across the final frame, and the Latvians struggled to get anything going in the way of puck possession. In the end, the Swedes came away with the win pretty easily, stamping their ticket to the semi-finals.
Final: Sweden 3 – Latvia 2
Next game up (SWE): January 4, 3:30 ET vs. Finland
Next game up (LAT): N/A
USA vs. Switzerland
If earlier in the day, we were enjoying the tight back and forth action, this next game was anything but. The Americans got off to a hot start in this game and never really seemed to slow down. They kicked off the scoring early, with Brandon Svoboda getting the first for them just after the six minute mark, and then James Hagens doubled up on their advantage, tacking on another goal under two minutes later, and then three more minutes later, Ryan Leonard pulled them ahead by three. The Swiss did manage to get themselves on the board in that first frame, with Nils Rhyn scoring a nice shorthanded goal late in the period, but the Americans were quick to restore their lead and put a halt to any momentum the Swiss were working to build.
Things only picked up from there — the Americans scored three more unanswered goals in the second period (these from Zeev Buium, Hagens again, and Leonard again), and an already pretty chippy game just kept getting even more physical. Though they avoided any major penalty incidents (more on those later though), there was a generous number of minors smattered across the game. This did allow for the Swiss to get a little bit more back in the game (Andro Caterli scored for them on the power play in the third) but that was it. The Americans had control of that game pretty comfortably, and didn’t let it go until the final buzzer sounded.
Final: USA 2 – Switzerland 2
Next game up (USA): January 4, 7:30 vs. Czechia
Next game up (SUI): N/A
Finland vs. Slovakia
Back to the tighter matchups, though. This game didn’t initially look like it was going to be particularly close, or have any real upset potential, as the Finns got out to the better start, at least on the scoring front, and jumped out to a three-goal lead (care of Jesse Kiiskinen, Jesse Nurmi, and Rasmus Kumpulainen respectively) in the first period alone, but their effort on the whole, despite the lopsided score, wasn’t all that commanding. They really let the Slovaks hang around and get a good volume of chances on net, and it felt like only a matter of time before they made them pay for it.
The door for this opened up even further midway through the second period when Emil Pieniniemi took a major penalty and a game misconduct for kneeing, handing the Slovaks a five minute power play to work with. And while the Finns were relatively successful in killing this, they did still allow one goal for the Slovaks on that power play, and this put them firmly back in the game. Kumpalainen picked up his second goal of the game late in the period to restore their lead, but the Slovaks were still getting the better of the chances, and they were working their way back into the mix. They picked up two more goals in the third period to bring themselves back within one, and it looked like they might be able to make things really interesting with an impending goalie pull, but before they could get that chance, the Finns scored again to put themselves back up by two with two minutes remaining in the period. So the hill to climb got a bit steeper for the Slovaks, and by then, the tank was just about empty. It was a nervous ending, but the Finns pulled off the win by the skin of their teeth.
Final: Finland 5 – Slovakia 3
Next game up (LAT): January 4, 3:30 ET vs. Sweden
Next game up (SVK): N/A
Czechia vs. Canada
The marquis matchup came last on the slate of action, with all eyes on a struggling Canadian team, and many questions about whether they would be able to overcome their flawed construction and avoid elimination in the quarterfinal for the second year in a row. And things… did not start out great for them. Petr Sikora scored to get the Czechs on the board just 43 seconds into the game, and things only seemed to spiral on the Canadians from there. Just past the midway point of the period, Cole Beaudoin laid a major hit on a Czech player and got himself a five minute major and a game misconduct for kneeing, putting the Czechs on a five-minute power play. And this was a bit of a mixed bag — Tanner Howe came up with a huge shorthanded goal to pull Canada even again, but then Jakub Stancl scored on the power play to restore their lead. And then there was the real backbreaker: with just three seconds left in the first period, Eduard Sale scored to make it a two-goal advantage for the Czechs heading into the intermission.
Canada seemed a little rattled, but they weren’t going to go away quietly. Instead, they chipped away at it — they held off the Czechs well and Porter Malone scored in the second to pull them back within one, and then Bradly Nadeau drew them back even late in the second. But a lack of disciple burned them again in the end, and Andrew Gibson took a kneeing penalty (this time just a minor though) and put the Czechs on the power play with under three minutes remaining. And while the Canadians managed to kill the majority of the penalty, the Czechs broke through with 40 seconds remaining. The Canadians, then, couldn’t get organized enough for a good run at finding an equalizer, and it was an early elimination for them again.
Final: Czechia 4 – Canada 3
Next game up (CZE): January 4, 7:30 vs. USA
Next game up (CAN): N/A
