World Juniors daily recap: It’s an onslaught

Throughout the World Juniors tournament, we’ll be keeping track of all the action and bringing you all of the results in one place.

Kazakhstan vs. Czechia

It was a tough start to the tournament for Kazakhstan, as they were dealt an 8-1 loss in their opener against Sweden, and it\'s more bad news for them in their first run at the main tournament since being promoted -- it\'s all getting worse.

The first period saw the tone set pretty immediately, with two goals scored by the Czechs in just six seconds early in the frame, and then two more piled on in the next nine minutes. Kazakhstan was able to stop the bleeding a bit at the end of the period, getting on the board thanks to Alexander Kim, but it was just a temporary fix. In short, the Czech scoring exploded from here -- they added eight goals in the second period alone, and while Kim was able to chip in another goal on the other side of the second intermission, but the Czechs piled on two more inside the final two minutes of play, adding insult to injury in some ways. That made for a 12-goal advantage in the end, and a walloping that we won\'t linger on for too long.

Final: Czechia 14 – Kazakhstan 2 Next game up (CZE): Dec 30, 3:00 ET vs. Slovakia Next game up (KAZ): Dec 29, 1:00 ET vs. Slovakia

Latvia vs. USA

On the flip side, the late matchup saw the loaded American team facing off against Latvia, fresh off their huge upset win over Canada. They were looking to make it two upsets in a row, but ultimately they fell a bit short in that aim.

The Americans got off to a hot start, getting on the board before we even hit the two-minute mark, on a goal from Danny Nelson. The Latvians did well to stifle them for the rest of that first frame, but when they gave the Americans a chance on the power play early in the second period, they didn\'t squander that opportunity. Captain Ryan Leonard (set up by both his Boston College linemates in James Hagens and Gabe Perreault) scored to extend the US\'s lead to two. It was a pretty penalty-ridden period, and while the American power play wasn\'t perfect -- they did get some insulation from Zeev Buium extending their lead at even strength -- they did still get a bit more production at the very end of the period, with Nelson picking up his second of the game.

Latvia did respond early in the third period, getting themselves on the board on a goal from Davids Livsics, but that was about as much of a rally as they could manage, and they found themselves still pretty well outmatched by the strength of that American offense. The US restored their four-goal lead on a goal from Max Plante, and they did not relinquish it again, taking care of business and all in all putting together a pretty tidy win.

Final: USA 5 – Latvia 1 Next game up (USA): Dec 29, 2:00 ET vs. Finland Next game up (LAT): Dec 30, 3:30 ET vs. Germany

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