World Juniors Roundup: December 29th

Alex Kirshner | Amateur Hockey (Juniors/NCAA)

Dec 29, 10:32 PM | Hype this story!

Sweden 10, Latvia 1

Sweden (3-0-0-0) turned in a dominating performance against a dreadful Latvian squad (0-0-0-3) that was badly overmatched at the Ottawa Civic Center. Magnus Svensson Pääjärvi and Nicklas Lasu both put up two markers, while Mattias Tedenby, André Petersson, Simon Hjalmarsson, Joakim Andersson, Erik Karlsson, and David Ullström also scored for the Swedes. Raimonds Ermics started in goal for Latvia, but he was pulled during the first period after giving up three goals, and Nauris Enkuzens came into the contest. Combined, the Latvian backstops saw a ridiculous 61 shots, keeping out 51 of them for a not so stellar .836 save percentage. Sensational Swedish goalie Jacob Markström was given the day off, and Mark Oyuwa stopped 10 of 11 shots in his place. The lone Latvian goal came from Roberts Jekimovs with seven seconds left in the first period.

Canada 5, Germany 1

Canada (3-0-0-0) easily downed Germany (1-0-0-2) behind a solid team effort at Scotiabank Place. While the Canadians didn’t put up the same gaudy offensive numbers they have in games past, they surrendered just one goal to the Germans and had no trouble coming away with a victory. Zach Boychuk tallied twice, and Jamie Benn, Evander Kane, and John Tavares also got the puck past Phillip Grubauer, who denied 44 of 49 shots in what was a phenomenal performance given his competition and the team playing in front of him. Chet Pickard saw only 13 pucks in net for Canada, and allowed just one past him. Captain Thomas Hickey didn’t record a point, but was all over the ice and earned Player of the Game honors for his team, while Grubauer took the award on the German side. Canada looks more than ready for its showdown with the United States on Wednesday night.

Tomorrow, Russia will meet Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Germany will face off, Finland will see Latvia, and the United States will take on Kazakhstan.

Comments

  1. Ashley Gallant

    Dec 30, 09:29 AM

    Actually, that CAN-GER game was quite close and Germany proved to be their toughest opponent so far. The score was 2-1 going into the third period before the Canucks added three insurance goals.

    I’m glad that the boys finally faced a bit of adversity before they face the Americans on New Year’s Eve. I hope they’re ready :)

  2. Chuck

    Dec 30, 09:48 AM

    Has anyone noticed how good the Ellis kid is from Canada? He is only 17 and probably their best d-man. I wonder how this tourney will improve his draft status???

  3. Alex Kirshner

    Dec 30, 11:07 AM

    Ash,

    I watched a good portion of the game, and while Germany kept it close through two periods on the scoreboard, they didn’t put pucks to the net, and the play was largely carried by Canada, or at least that’s how I saw it. Canada was never in serious danger of losing that game.

    Chuck,

    Ellis is unbelievable. Looking at his numbers in the OHL the last few years, it’s hard to believe he’s actually defenseman. He’s definitely a puck mover, and actually reminds me a lot of Mark Streit of the Islanders.

  4. Bill Burns

    Dec 30, 12:06 PM

    I was looking for information about Okanagan Hockey Academy and I stumbled upon some information that caused me great concern. It’s a blog called Okanagan Hockey Academy. I was thinking about sending my 14 year-old boy to OHA but if the information on this blog is true, I would never send him there.

    http://okanaganhockeyacademy.blogspot.com/

    What can you tell me about OHA? Do they really have a crack house on campus? What are some good hockey schools in Canada where my son can develop and be relatively safe from harm?

    Is it true Kerr was fired from Port Alberni due to favouritism of his son?

    Thanks for any help or comments on this subject.

  5. Ashley Gallant

    Dec 30, 04:26 PM

    Alex, I have to somewhat disagree with you. It’s true that the Germans kept the score close through 40 minutes and that they generated little forecheck all game long, but all they needed was one more PPG to tie the game at 2 – and the Germans were given several power plays to attempt just that.

    I guess my concern last night was how the team would handle the adversity because it was the toughest test they had faced in this tournament. A team can be the most offensively-gifted group of players in the world, but then crumble once things get a little rough. You never know what sort of team they’ll be until they face a challenge. Thankfully, Team Canada handled it well and they can build on that effort tomorrow night against the Americans.

    And by the way, I completely agree about Ryan Ellis. That kid is phenomenal and I have a feeling his stock will rise to new heights as the result of this tournament.

Commenting is closed for this article.